


The Feathery Lineup

by Potatoe_Knight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien AUGreste, F/M, I'm still lovesquare trash, but they're synthetic, cause no allergic reactions, even though it's supposed to focus on Adrien, feathers - Freeform, not sorry, so lovesquare, sorry - Freeform, thank you very much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 19:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 19,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20069629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potatoe_Knight/pseuds/Potatoe_Knight
Summary: Adrien has been finding these (synthetic) feathers at his desk lately, and found the notes next to them extremely helpful through hard days.Though, he can’t help but wonder what angelic soul has been leaving them for him.





	1. Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to participate in Adrien AUGreste on the last day of July, which was a terrible idea for creating a connected story. I sorta latched onto the feathers, and got this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *has a couple of fanfics already going that need regular updates*  
Me: *has a TON of other fanfics that has been started writing that haven't been posted at ALL yet despite really wanting to*  
Me: *is unable to let themself leave a fanfic unfinished*  
Me: *is behind on homework before school even starts NEXT MONDAY and is also planning on doing a sport that starts the week after that*  
Also me: You know what's a great idea? Participating in Adrien AUGreste. Continuous story, too. With absolutely NO planning.

Adrien felt… inexplicably happy.

No, really. _ Inexplicably. _

For. No. Good. Reason.

If anything, there was nothing but fodder for his frustration. Photoshoots increasing in regularity, more pressure to do well in fencing, his piano skills being constantly displayed to guests and _ requiring _attention, not to mention the meetings he was required to attend with Chinese investors, and the need to study in order to keep up with the negotiations. Not to mention the increased akuma attacks- nearly daily.

It was as if his father and Hawk Moth were both having a bad month and felt the need to take it out on _ him. _ Though Adrien doubted that Hawk Moth ever had a good day. Or his father, for that matter.

But… there was _ one _ thing that he looked forward to. And it was probably the entire reason for his mood.

And as he spotted a yellow feather on his desk next to a slip of paper, his smile brightened. There it was.

The past… what had it been? Two weeks? He’d lost track of time from his busy schedule, but someone had noticed how he was struggling and started leaving these colorful feathers on his desk. It had to be someone who knew him, because they were all synthetic. And even that practical detail made him love it all the more.

Upon reaching his desk, he quickly picked up the feather and stuffed it in his bag where he kept all the rest. That made ten.

More slowly, Adrien picked up the note to read. They always seemed to have nothing more than the meanings of a feather of that particular color on them, but they still seemed to be so personal, somehow. Even if they were typed.

> **A reminder to be cheerful and light-hearted, to be present, alert, and to stay focused on what you desire to magnetize these blessings into your life.**

If Adrien felt happy before, now he felt like… he was walking on Sunshine.

He sighed dreamily. Come what may, he could make it through it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
I have absolutely NO expectations for how this will go. I've only planned out the next two chapters, and am about halfway through the second.  
This chapter is probably just going to be one of the shorter ones, but I'm not going to worry about length for any of these too much.  
Reference for feather meanings: https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/0*cIl0JDJcoPr3qJri.


	2. Feathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien decides to thank his secret feather-giver.

Adrien smiled when he picked up the gray feather that morning.

> **A call to return to peace within to create it without. Hope your day goes smoothly and your life becomes less hectic.**

The feathers had been consistent for over a month now. There were eleven colors, and after the first round of going through them, the order became random, seemingly aligned to whatever his worries were the previous day. Added onto the meanings were little notes that were certainly personalized by whoever left them.

Which made it all the better.

*

_ Sigh. _

Marinette glanced at Adrien wearily. They were working together on a duo project for English in the library.

Being allowed to choose their own partners, Adrien would’ve usually chosen Nino. Except that Alya immediately claimed her boyfriend, who didn’t really offer much resistance. After which Alya suggested that Adrien and Marinette team up, sending a not-so-subtle wink to her best friend that Adrien was _ still _ confused over.

“Okay are you? I mean- are you okay?”

Adrien had come to find his friend’s stuttering, while still strange, endearing. He shrugged. “Yeah. I’m just tired from all this running around my father has been making me do. At least I’ll have a bit of a break today- no photoshoot!”

Marinette frowned. “Are you really fine with that?”

“No,” he admitted, breaking into honesty at the look of concern in her eyes. “I wish that my father wasn’t pushing me so hard. It’s like… he doesn’t care for me at all.”

“That is terrible,” she agreed. That was the second sentence in a row that she hadn’t stuttered. Was her concern for him overcoming whatever it was that made her do that in the first place? “While he _ should _ care, and be there for you… he isn’t. But remember that your friends are here for you, and never be afraid to open up to us, okay?”

He nodded. He… already felt a little better. “Thanks. That helped. Now, let’s get cracking on this assignment. I won’t have time outside of class to work on it.”

*

Adrien had been sitting on the idea for a while. A way to repay the person that left him the feathers.

And _ today, _ he was going to do it.

His father had finally given him a bit of a breather. So Adrien had five minutes after school that he could spare, rather than being picked up for a photoshoot before the day even ended.

Five minutes to give his thanks.

So once the last class of the day let out, Adrien slipped into his homeroom. He slipped right over to his seat, and got to work.

Twenty-seven feathers. That’s how many he had. He pulled them out and began neatly arranging them in a circle on his desk.

Satisfied with how it looked, he pulled out a paper and set it in the middle of it. He pulled out his own and began writing on it.

> **Thank you for the feathers and the notes. You really brighten my days.**

"Adrien!"

Startled, Adrien looked up, dropping his pen on the floor in the process.

It was Nathalie. "I thought I had a bit of time before I had to leave today."

The secretary shrugged. "Your piano lessons were moved up. We need to leave now to arrive in time."

"I understand." Thankfully he was already done. So Adrien left without a care.

Somehow, he still felt light, even after some of his precious free time was infringed upon. Those feathers were working.

Adrien felt as light as a feather.


	3. Just a Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien discovers the person who had been giving him feathers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this now because I won't have a chance to this weekend.

After getting out of his piano lesson, Adrien sighed. In relief, and somewhat dread. Now was his allotted time for homework. Anything incomplete after this cut into his sleep. Not that it was hard, there was simply a lot of it.

Adrien pulled out the assignment. Next, he reached into his backpack for his pen. Only to feel nothing. Frowning, Adrien checked with his eyes to make sure that it wasn't there. It wasn't.

_ Where did it go?  _ That was his favorite pen. He didn't get it out much except for home or school work. He hadn't used it since-

...since he wrote the thank-you. Where Nathalie had startled him, and he dropped the pen in surprise. And didn't pick it up.

Adrien sighed. How could he convince Nathalie to let him go back and get it?

* * *

Apparently, all he needed was to vaguely tell her that he left something at school.

So, fifteen minutes later, with the school still open, he was walking up to his homeroom class and about to enter, except that he looked up and paused.

Someone was already there, at his seat, looking down at what he had left earlier. They giggled, blushing, and proceeded to leave the feathers, adding another one, and meticulously write a note. Then they skipped away, Adrien hiding behind the door at this point, clutching a piece of paper that he could only assume had been the note he left.

After he was sure that she was gone, Adrien walked into the room, picking the pen up off the floor.

Only then did he allow himself to look at his desk. The feathers were just as he left them. The note he left was now replaced with a new note and a pink feather next to it.

> **A reminder of the unconditional love of your angels. I love you, and I want you to know that your friends do, too.**

His breath caught.

There was no doubt about it now. Especially since he had seen exactly who had left it.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“But… she’s just a friend,” he protested. Though he wasn’t sure why he felt the need to say so. Maybe it was because of the way his heart was pounding.

Plagg came out of his overshirt. “And yet you needed to say that.”

“I love Ladybug, not her!” he continued his protest.

Plagg rolled his eyes. “No one except you is questioning that, kid. Though… you  _ have _ been thinking about the feathers more than Ladybug lately, haven’t you?”

Adrien was about to deny it, when he realized the answer was  _ yes. _

“C’mon Plagg. I need to go back home to finish my homework.”

Marinette was still just a friend.

_ ...Right? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm such a lovesquare sap that I didn't last long until it crept in. It's still going to focus on Adrien, I promise!


	4. Lucky Charm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien needs to figure out what to do with the feathers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearly a week later and I'm back! Actually, since I haven't posted since last Friday, I guess it's been over a week.  
Hopefully the craziest part of school is over and I can get to regular updates... but who knows?

In the past month, Adrien had figured out some things.

For one, he was pretty sure that Marinette had a crush on him. Seeing the note where she had said she loved him made him start suspecting. After that, he realized that was probably always so shy and stuttering around him. That was how he had to try very hard not to act while around Ladybug without the confidence afforded by the suit.

And also… another thing was that he couldn’t say he was indifferent to her.

Adrien had  _ thought _ he could only have eyes for Ladybug. But he had been secretly harboring a crush on the girl that sat behind him in class, and he had only realized that recently. Besides the feathers that were  _ oh-so-nice, _ there was simply how nice and responsible and a  _ leader  _ that he admired before without realizing that he did. Adrien couldn’t help but remember Hero’s Day.

_ “You’re our everyday Ladybug.” _

He had compared her to Ladybug directly. And he couldn’t see that much of a difference.

In the past month, his schedule had done a 180. Now, instead of every minute being packed to the fullest along with constant akuma attacks, he had more free time than ever before, along with a now-normal amount of akumas. It was as though his father and Hawk Moth had been conspiring to make his life miserable, and then make it a lot easier. They both seemed heartless enough to be friends.

Another thing was that Adrien now had a  _ lot _ of feathers, that were inconvenient to carry around. Not to mention that people had definitely started noticing them now that this had been going on for a couple of months.

He definitely wanted something to keep as a reminder of them, but he wasn’t about to keep them with him at all times. He would also like to use them in whatever he made.

The problem was that he wasn’t all that creative.

* * *

Marinette must’ve heard him complaining about his lack of creativity to Nino, because the next day he found an orange feather on his desk.

> **Carry messages of creativity, listening to your inner voice, and staying positive to attract success. Whatever you’re struggling with, I’m sure that you can invent a way to solve it!**

Adrien smiled. She was so precious.

Marinette was creative. Especially with designing or knowing the right thing to say.

Maybe he should ask  _ her  _ for help.

* * *

After the school day was over and he had cleared it with Nathalie, Adrien found himself at the Dupain-Chengs’ front door (not the bakery, he didn’t think he could face Marinette’s parents), trying to gather the courage to knock.

It was a lot harder to do when you realize that you actually have a crush on the girl you’re going to see that you thought was just-a-friend for so long and that you realize has a crush on you but also your superhero self (probably- Adrien wasn’t sure what exactly was going on when she “confessed” to Chat before the disaster of a brunch and Weredad) and you are not currently that aforementioned cool and suave superhero self.

Adrien was petrified. Somehow, he had managed to raise his hand, preparing to knock on the door, but was having trouble with that last part.

_ Maybe I should just turn and leave. I don’t know if I could talk to her anyways.  _ It was true. Since he’d discovered that she was the one leaving the feathers and realizing he had a crush on her, Adrien had been almost just as much of a stuttering mess as Marinette in their conversations.

He sighed, resigned that he would just figure out something himself. Adrien was about to turn around and leave when the door suddenly opened.

In shock, Adrien stared at Marinette on the other side, while she stared at him. Then she quickly hid something behind her back. He could have sworn that it was a small piece of paper and a white feather.

Doing his best to ignore it, Adrien looked back up at Marinette’s face, somehow mustering the courage to talk to her. “H-hey, Marinette. I wondering was- I mean! I was wondering if you could help me make something with these feathers.”

She still looked at least as shocked and bashful as he felt, but managed to stutter out, “S-sure! Uh… dut woo you want? Uh-  _ what do you want? _ I mean… l-like a charm, or what?”

“A charm… sounds great!” Even though Adrien had no idea what to do before.

Ugh. They were such a mess. Despite knowing that they both liked each other, Adrien was suffering from the fact that they couldn’t really  _ function _ around one another.

But hopefully, as they made this charm, it could bring them a little… luck with their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lately I've been really into reading fics where Adrien/Chat has given up on Ladybug and started giving Marinette a chance. So I can't really say that I'm surprised that's how I started writing this one...


	5. Partners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Apparently I can't concentrate on this fic, So I promise one chapter a week, and we'll see what else.  
I had written a lot more, until I accidently hit back, deleting everything. Oh, well. Basically, it's thanks to me being terrified of my English teacher that you're all getting this now.

“There we go!”

Marinette held up the last of the dream catchers that she had just finished. Sure, it took about a month to catch up to the feathers that kept appearing on his desk, but it was worth it.

Originally, Adrien just wanted to use the feathers as some sort of charm, preferably a bracelet, but Marinette had a metal feather charm that she put on a strip of black leather making a perfect charm.

A few days later in class, Adrien mentioned a nightmare he had, and how frequent they were. In addition to a feather and comforting note the next day, Marinette immediately suggested using the feathers for dreamcatchers, since they had made him feel better in the past and dreamcatchers were supposed to stop nightmares.

Even with multiple feathers on each, they had to keep making them for a month to finish using all the feathers he had by now. Though, considering that it had been going on for three months by  _ this  _ point, it wasn't so difficult to believe.

In that time, working closely together, both Adrien and Marinette had overcome their shyness. Though neither had gained the confidence to confess their feelings. Despite Adrien being  _ almost  _ certain that she felt the way he did about her, there was still that sliver of doubt. Besides, if she was now able to act more natural, even be  _ comfortable _ with him, did that mean she no longer had any feelings that she may have at one point or another.

Since he took home the first one that they finished, Adrien actually  _ hadn't _ had nightmares. It could very well be unrelated to it, but still, he liked the things all the better for it.

So he looked at the last of them and smiled.

Adrien looked over at Marinette and gave what he knew  _ had  _ to be a cheeky grin. "Those are very…  _ charming,  _ Marinette."

With how at ease he had come to feel around her, Adrien started acting with a combination of his usual personality as himself and as Chat. Which felt more like the  _ real him  _ than even his superhero self allowed him to be.

And  _ Marinette  _ usually responded with a little bit of confidence and rolling her eyes. But when she thought he wasn't looking, there was a small smile on her face following each.

And… there it was. The classic eye roll. "That's not even what we were making."

Adrien shrugged. "If you _ caught  _ the puns, then they were  _ made  _ well enough, I think."

"Whatever," Marinette said, brushing the topic aside. "Maybe I should find a new craft-making buddy."

He tilted his head in confusion. "Craft-making buddy? Not that it isn't true, I _ am  _ that crafty after all…" He could practically  _ hear  _ the eye roll this time, and it brought a smile to his lips. "... But it sounds childish."

"What do you want me to say then? The oh-so-punny crafty partner's?"

Adrien smiled. "Sure."

Partner's. He liked the sound of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff is nice.  
And... I have no clue if dreamcatchers are a thing in France. I thought about it, but didn't research it.


	6. Carboard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More craft time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT?? I'm posting another chapter so soon?  
What can I say? I was inspired for this fic.

What Marinette said yesterday planted an idea in his mind.

Crafty partners, huh?

Well… it sounded oddly appealing.

Before meeting up with Marinette to work on crafts regularly, Adrien wouldn’t say he was at all interested in crafts, or barely intrigued. Sure, you glue a bunch of random mumbo-jumbo together. So what?

But with Marinette… that girl had some way of making every tiny thing magical. That was true even before Adrien developed his… crush on her.

He looked forward to working on the dreamcatchers with her. And he _ really _ didn’t want that to stop just because those were complete.

Since Adrien had a free day today (although those happened a lot more often lately, with his father and Hawk Moth both becoming less and less demanding), he decided that he’d ask her if they… really _ could _become crafty partners.

Now… he just had to find the time to ask her during school today.

* * *

> **Life force, energy, physical vitality, stability, strength, passion, and COURAGE. If there’s anything you’ve got a problem with, don’t be afraid to face it head-on.**

Adrien sighed dreamily at the note and tucked it along with the red feather into his pocket.

Even though, logically, Adrien realized that it _ probably _ wasn’t what she was thinking about when she was writing it… heck, it could be just as much for herself for something or other as for him.

Yet…

_ You have no idea how much I needed that, Marinette, _ Adrien thought. _ And certainly not how much it will affect you. _

But now he _ did _ have the courage to, once she walked in, ask her.

Thankfully, she said yes. She also blushed, though Adrien tried not to read too much into it.

* * *

“Do… you have any other crafts or particular materials that you want to use or do again?”

Adrien hadn’t thought that far ahead. Maybe he _ should _ have. But he answered Marinette honestly. “No.”

Surprisingly, after he said that, Marinette’s whole face lit up.

He was _ not _ expecting _ that _ reaction.

“Great!” she practically squealed. “I know just the thing.” She walked over to her chaise, pulled up the mattress, revealing a lot of…

_ Cardboard? _

Judging by the way Marinette giggled, his expression must have matched his thoughts. _ Why does everything she does have to be so cute? _

And Marinette must’ve nearly been a mind reader because she answered his first question. Though not his second. “I’ve had this cardboard saving up for a while… because I haven’t had time to do anything with it. Now that I have the chance, though… well, we could make whatever we want with it.”

Adrien tilted his head. “Anything at all?”

“Just about.” Marinette shrugged, and then went to her desktop and pulled up a pinterest board. “There’s all sorts of ideas here, see? Signs, geometric figures, organizers, a cat house…”

He held up a hand to signal her to stop. “I get it. Sounds great. Nice to have that… freedom.”

Such a stark contrast from his father. Despite the increasing leniency in the past month, he still expected Adrien to very specifically take over the company.

“Okay, what shall we make?”

Whatever _ he _ wanted.

Adrien liked the sound of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the fluff while it lasts...  
There is plot coming up soon, and it will definitely deal with angst. At least a little bit. But probably not a lot, because I don't much like it.


	7. uwu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagg and Adrien time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured out what to do for this chapter while doing research for the last one, so I wrote it pretty much immediately after...

It took a week to complete the craft.

But considering that Adrien and Marinette got themselves distracted every other second, that was actually rather impressive.

Besides, paying attention to cookies and video games were  _ not _ ever going to be a bad thing in Adrien’s book.

Adrien set down the cardboard cat house down in the middle of his room. Plagg eyed it suspiciously. “That just looks like a waste of money.”

“You know just as well as I do that it was free, Plagg.” Adrien retorted to his kwami.

“Time  _ is _ money, as you humans say. Besides, I’m not interested. We cats are sophisticated creatures.”

Adrien could’ve argued that point, but it wouldn’t be worth it. “Whatever.”

* * *

Adrien woke up that night and made a run for the bathroom. Maybe his nightmares wouldn’t wake him up anymore, but not going to the bathroom before bed could.

After quickly taking care of his business, Adrien passed the small cat house. He didn’t think anything of it until he heard a small sound come from within.

Sure enough, he peeked in and saw Plagg sound asleep in the cat house, snoring softly. He didn’t even know that his kwami  _ did _ that.

Not wanting to disturb Plagg and drive him away from the cat house, Adrien just smiled and went to bed himself.

uwu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plagg is such a cat.  
Except that none of my cats sleep on an actual bed. Ever.  
But they still seem to secretly appreciate some things.  
Short chapter, but about 180 words longer than my shortest ever. Aka the time I had a prompt but really did not want to do it/ or have any ideas.


	8. Cat Tendencies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys... I'm writing up a storm!  
Can't say if I'll keep going, but next chapter there's actually going to be PLOT, so probably.

Usually, his Cat tendencies were limited to his time as Chat Noir. But occasionally, especially times when he hadn’t transformed for a while, they leaked over to Adrien.

If he had to blame anyone, it’d be Hawk Moth. With a decrease in akumas, and apparently Ladybug being busy, they didn’t worry too much about patrol. And less akumas and more freedom as Adrien meant that he hadn’t transformed in the past three weeks.

Still, Adrien had been trying  _ very _ hard not to act on any of these impulses. The feathers dangling (they were just  _ dangling _ there, waiting to be ripped off!) from his dreamcatchers were still intact. The toilet paper in his and the school’s bathrooms were still rolled.Shiny objects and keys, and  _ especially _ the diamond phone case that Chloe had gotten from her dad were still in their rightful owners’ possessions.

But, given that he lasted a week untransformed before the impulses crept in, two weeks of suppressing them wore his willpower thin.

Alya and Nino had ditched Adrien and Marinette at lunch, something Adrien was still trying to decide if he loved or hated. On one hand, he enjoyed spending time alone with Marinette, especially since they had become comfortable around each other as at least friends. On the other hand, he hated how he could never confess his feelings for her, despite having  _ realized _ what they were for three months.

“Adrien,” Marinette said abruptly in their  argument conversation about which UMS bot was best to take the win. Her voice sounded almost panicked, and her eyes only met his briefly before falling back down to where her finger was nervously rubbing the table.

“Hmm?” Adrien said. After he followed her gaze to her hand, the motion entranced him. It was… so… tempting….

“Doyouthinkthatyoucancomeovertomyhouseafterschooltoday?” Marinette rushed the words, not pausing for a breath.

Her hand, still rubbing against the table…

_ Not now. _

Adrien forcibly looked up into her gaze, now petrified. He smiled at her. “Sure.”

* * *

They were in Marinette’s frontroom. “Adrien, I have something to tell you…”   
Adrien barely paying attention. Because the nearly-always immaculate Marinette had a string hanging from her jacket.

And finally, Adrien’s willpower was gone.

He pounced.

Fighting. That nefarious string wouldn’t get away if  _ Adrien  _ had anything to do with it. What was it doing, any way, trying to sneak up on Marinette like that? Just wait until he sank his claws into-

“ADRIEN!”

Marinette’s voice snapped him out of his frenzy.

Adrien looked up at her. She had separated herself from the jacket he was attacking, looking on, eyes wide in a panic. “What are you  _ doing?” _

“Uh…” Adrien looked at the jacket. Fortunately, it was mostly intact, except for the single loose string, which had come free. He turned back to her, holding up the string as a piece of evidence. “You had a loose string on your jacket. I removed it for you.”

Marinette nodded slowly, as though she were still unbelieving. If she liked him before, Adrien wasn’t so sure that she did anymore. If anything, she probably thought he was crazy. But he couldn’t exactly explain to Marinette that he was Chat Noir, now could he?

“Why… don’t we go make cookies now?”

“Sounds great!” Adrien agreed.

When he got home, he was going to transform. These impulses were too much to control anymore.

Watch out, feathers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anyone else's cats like to attack when you rub your hand against the floor or something like that.  
(Dang it, stupid cat tendencies. We were about to get an Adrienette confession but then you interrupted and Marinette lost confidence.)  
Oh. Yeah. Marinette was about to confess, if you didn't pick up on that.


	9. Catastrophe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien learns a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fourth chapter today.  
Sheesh... that's a lot when I say it.  
What can I say, I enjoy PLOT.

This was… a catastrophe.

Adrien didn’t  _ lose _ his pen this time. No, he left it in the pocket of his jeans, and it went through the laundry and… exploded, the ink also essentially ruining a batch of clothes.

So now it was broken, and Adrien didn’t have a pen.

To top it off, Nathalie was  _ sick _ today, meaning that he couldn’t just ask her for a new one. So Adrien resorted to looking for one.

The easiest place would probably be to go get one from Nathalie’s office, but unfortunately, it was locked up due to her absence.

Adrien sighed. Where else could he look for one? It’s not the kitchen would exactly have them lying around. Maybe he should have kept extra ones around, just in case something like this happened…

Maybe his father would have one. Designers used those, didn’t they? Marinette seemed to have anything you could dream to write or draw with in her room.

Adrien climbed up the stairs to his father’s office and tentatively knocked on the door. When he didn’t hear an answer, he opened the door slowly.

He saw his father facing his mother’s portrait, and was about to call out to him when his father placed six of his fingers on the picture and pressed them in.

Adrien watched as a circle around his father sunk into the floor.

Not sure what to think, Adrien swiftly closed the door behind him, and dashed back to his room.

* * *

Back in the safety of his room, arms hugging his legs, Adrien finally spoke to Plagg. “What does it mean? Anything, do you think?”

“Probably. Most things mean  _ something. _ ”

Funny. Adrien thought that the severity of the situation might make Plagg be  _ serious _ for once. Apparently, he was wrong.

“I mean… there was that Miraculous Book that I found last year. Do you think…?”

Adrien left the end of the question in the air.  _ Do you think my father is Hawk Moth? _

“Why, yes. I  _ do _ think, in fact.” After Adrien glared at Plagg, he gave a semi-serious answer. “Ladybug  _ did _ tell you, didn’t she? It was  _ your _ fault for not listening to her.”

Adrien sighed. “I… better go check it out. Do you think he’s still in there?”

Plagg shrugged. “How would I know?”

* * *

Adrien ran into his father at the door.

“Father! My pen broke, and I can’t ask Nathalie for one today since she’s sick, so…”

His sighed, raising an eyebrow to make sure his son knew to get on with it.

“IwaswonderingifyouhadapenIcouldborrow?” he rapidly finished.

His father nodded. “They will be next to my monitor. Be quick.” Without further ado, he walked away.

Adrien practically couldn’t believe how easy that was. Granted, his father very well might be in a hurry for something.

But he best make the most of this opportunity. Adrien went in, closing the door behind him, and pressed the six buttons that he may or may not have memorized.

The floor falling was a peculiar feeling, but… that wasn’t too bad.

Especially not when compared with what he found at the bottom.

It was actually quite nice, at first, for being underground. A quaint pathway up to a garden. It was what was in the middle of that garden that was… disturbing. A glass coffin, with no one in it other than…

“Mom?”

Adrien’s heart broke.

She wasn’t just missing. She was dead.

Why didn’t his father ever tell him?

Plagg’s voice broke into Adrien’s thoughts. “Home-grown akumas. No wonder they’re so powerful.”

Adrien whipped his head around to look at the kwami. “Akumas?”

Plagg nodded. “See those white cocoons? They turn into akumas. Trust me. I’ve been around Nooroo enough to know what they look like.”

Adrien’s stomach dropped. “He really is Hawk Moth.”

Now  _ this _ was a real catastrophe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun DUNNN!!!!!!!  
The way I wrote it reminded me of the very first fic I wrote. Which does not have a finished story line.  
I went back and rewatched The Collector to get a screenshot of the buttons Gabriel presses to get to his lair, and just watched the whole episode because it's been forever and there's also some other stuff in it that I wanted to refresh on for another fic idea that I have. It also allowed me to incorporate a couple of other details from it in here.  
And if Plagg had his cheese aging for 999 days, does that mean the show has been going on for two years, eight months, three weeks, and four days at this point? Or did Master Fu just let him start aging cheese whenever he wanted?


	10. Abandon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien deals with what he learned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not going to say that you can expect anymore tonight, but...  
you might be able to.  
Especially since I've started on the next chapter already.  
It's also going to be much faster paced, since actually important things have started happening.

_ Knock knock knock. _

Adrien heard his knocks against the door as they seemed to reverberate. It wasn’t particularly late- barely dark- but Adrien had always come here far earlier before.

He still was in shock. Felt his eyes wide open, unable to blink.

His mother was dead. His father, too, in a sense.

_ Hawk Moth. _

Adrien felt a few traitorous tears fall down his cheeks. But how could he help it? He felt  _ abandoned. _

Adrien never had any delusions that his father was particularly loving or caring. His mom was always the one more involved in raising him, and being there for him. His father was more distant, and never good at showing affection.

He always knew that his father loved his mom, but…  _ not like this. _

Adrien never thought that his father would become a  _ supervillain _ out of love.

Light spilled over Adrien’s face, and he looked up to see who had opened it. It was Tom Dupain. Of course.

“Can I see Marinette?” Adrien asked, knowing that the tears in his eyes were very visible.

After learning about his father, Adrien knew that he couldn’t stand being in his house- at least for that night. He had considered going to Nino’s, but instead chose to go to the one person he knew who could  _ truly _ understand what he was going through, because she had proved it before.

Tom frowned, but nodded. “Of course.” He led Adrien up the stairs into the living room, where he called down his daughter.

Marinette poked her head out of her trap door. “Adrien?”

He looked up, sniveling. No one wanted to appear crying in front of their crush, but with how distraught he was, he simply didn’t care anymore. “Can I talk to you? Alone?”

She nodded, and he climbed up to her room.

Once there, door shut, Marinette looked at him, concerned. “Do you want to talk about it?”

_ Yes. _ But out loud, instead of saying that, all Adrien managed was to start  _ bawling. _

Marinette took a step closer, and wrapped her arms around him. Adrien sunk into her embrace, knowing that he was getting his tears and snot all over her shirt, but she didn’t seem to mind. And he was glad for it. Right now, she was just being a good friend, a strong pillar that he could lean on. And that was exactly what he needed right now.

Marinette kept stroking his hair and breathing out,  _ Shh… shh… _ It was oddly comforting. And it did work, after a while.

Adrien took a step back from Marinette, wiping his nose against his sleeve. “Sorry about your shirt.”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing that washing it won’t take care of. I’m more worried about  _ you. _ Is it anything you want to talk about?”

He started trembling. “I found out that my mom is dead.”

There. As terrible as it may seem, it was the easier fact to deal with.

Marinette’s mouth turned into an “o” shape.

“My father hid it from me.”

Slightly harder.

Her brow furrowed, and she frowned. “Why would he…?”

“Because he’s Hawk Moth.”

There. That was it. It was out.

Marinette gave a gasp. A second later, she reached out and pulled him into a hug. He broke down again. Telling someone else his secret didn’t make it any easier to bear.

She started stroking his hair again. “I’m not going to lie and tell you that you’re going to be fine. But, come what may, I’ll help you get through this. Your friends won’t abandon you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. Angst.  
Sorry, but this needs to be dealt with. Adrien isn't just going to EASILY accept that his dad is Hawk Moth. It's always the most difficult part in writing a Hawk Moth's defeat arc.  
At least the snot and tears portion is over.  
Everything should be a little lighter from here.


	11. Childhood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda feel like yelling FLUFF! at this chapter the way people yell DEER! when they spot one.  
Because it's felt like it's been too long since I've seen this stuff.  
And the prompt is a bit of a stretch. But I needed this chapter.

Adrien woke up at four the next morning, to the sounds of Tom and Sabine starting to start preparing things in the bakery.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to remember what he learned yesterday.

He had cried himself to sleep on Marinette’s shoulder last night, and he supposed that it was Tom who brought him down to the couch.

Adrien sat up and sighed. It didn’t hurt any less, but the shock had mostly worn away. He wasn’t bursting into tears over it.

He stood up, and met Marinette’s gaze. “What are you doing up? I figured that you never woke up early, with almost always being late to school.”

His classmate shrugged. “I don’t. But I wondered if you needed to get up and go back to your house before anyone notices that you’re gone.”

He did. “I… just don’t know if I can go back there.”

Marinette walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll have to sooner or later. And I don’t think you can wait long enough for it to not hurt.”

Adrien took a deep breath in and out, nodding. “Alright. See you at school later, Marinette.”

* * *

A white feather.

> **A reminder to keep faith, you’re supported and protected by angels. Your loved ones in heaven are well, and have crossed successfully into the spirit realms.**

Adrien doubted that was what Marinette had left yesterday afternoon. She probably changed it this morning, and only didn’t personalize it this time in order to not give away who she was still.

Adrien looked at them and smiled. She couldn’t have chosen a more perfect one for today. He might even say that it hurt less.

It was still about half an hour before class started, so Adrien was the only one in the room. But he heard someone at the doorway, and turned around. He wasn’t even surprised to see Marinette right there.

Hardly even thinking about it, he went and hugged her. “Thank you,” he whispered. “That feather was perfect for today.”

Marinette pulled out of the embrace. “You  _ knew?” _

Adrien pulled them from out of the doorway, to afford them a little more privacy. “Yes Marinette. I knew that this amazing girl that sat behind me in class was observant enough to see that I was troubled and leave these inspiring messages to me that would help me feel infinitely better each day.”

Her cheeks colored slightly. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yes. It was about three and a half months ago that I saw you placing it after school. But I’m not going to regret it for one instant. Because it’s what made me realize that I’m in love with you.”

Now Marinette was  _ really _ blushing. “Y-you  _ are?” _

“Absolutely,” Adrien confirmed. “I’ve been trying to gather the confidence to tell you for the past three months, but I was always afraid that you didn’t feel the same, or you’d find it too forward.”

“N-NO!” She protested. “I could never! Because… I love you, too.”

Adrien grinned. So what he had  _ thought _ he saw… what he hoped… was  _ right. _ “I know that  _ now. _ So my childish burst of confidence paid off.”

Marinette giggled.

“I don’t want to rush into anything too fast, especially considering what happened last night, but could I take you on a date sometime, Marinette?”

She blushed. “Yes!”   
Adrien leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, smiling. “Good. Now today, I want to be carefree. I know that I’ll need to tell Ladybug and Chat Noir sometime, so that they can take care of him, but for now, I’m going to try to live the childhood I never had. It started with that confidence. Care to join me, Princess?” He let his nickname for her as Chat Noir slip out.

Marinette smiled in return. “Definitely, my Prince.”

Maybe that slip wasn’t so bad, after all.

If they were going to play this game of make-believe. They were kids, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Sighs dreamily*  
Okay. Adrienette. Nice.  
Coming up next: LadyNoir interactions to continue with the plot. See you then!
> 
> This is the last chapter I'm posting today, Saturday August 17, 2019. Because six is a lot of chapters for one day.  
The earliest that you can look for an update on this again is Monday.


	12. Tattoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reveal that you've all been waiting for!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... one definition of tattoo is:  
: to beat or rap rhythmically on : drum on  
That's the only way "tattoo" will be referenced- and even then, only briefly.

One of the reasons that Adrien loved being Chat Noir was the  _ exhilaration. _

Not to say that he  _ didn’t _ love the freedom, but the parkour and air flowing through his hair certainly weren’t a downside to being a superhero.

So, as part of his attempt to unwind and destress that day, Chat just let himself enjoy that. No akuma. No responsibilities. Just…

Fun. Joy. Laughter.

Chat kept a smile on his face and a chuckle on his lips as he raced across the rooftops, wearing away any energy he had, until he finally came to a stop on the Eiffel tower, breathing not uncomfortably, but heavily. He sat down and listened, in between pants, to the sounds of the nightlife of Paris.

> _ tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap _

Chat’s ears perked up when he heard some taps against the metal behind him to the tune of the first line of Frère Jacques.

He smiled and leaned back against the beam he was next to, content to listen to the rest, his mind automatically providing the lyrics.

> _ Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? _
> 
> _ Sonnez les matines. Sonnez les matines _
> 
> _ Ding, ding, dong. Ding, ding, dong _

As it ended, Chat opened his eyes and looked back to see who it was that had tapped out the rhythm.

“Ladybug.”

He hadn’t hardly seen her for the past three months, with akumas being so irregular. But now that he saw her, he  _ knew. _ Chat would probably always love and care for Ladybug, but only as a partner and a friend. After that day he realized his feelings for his classmate, he couldn’t help but notice everything good about her, and fell for her hard and fast. Leaving Ladybug… in the friend zone he felt trapped in for so long.

Unaware of the realization her partner just had concerning her, said superheroine smiled. “Hey, kitty. I noticed you were out and about, and wondered what for.”

Chat shrugged. He was going to try to successfully avoid talking about…  _ that _ anymore today. “Just burning off energy.”   
She frowned. “Why? Something bothering you?”

Unfortunately, Chat not being lovestruck with Ladybug didn’t make her any less amazing. She could read his body language as easily as any words.

Oh, well. He was going to have to tell her at some point. And… he had only told  _ Marinette  _ so far. It shouldn’t hurt to tell her the detail that was  _ really _ bothering him.

“My father is Hawk Moth.”

A moment of silence.

“Adrien?”

Tension as their eyes met.  _ But I only told- _

“Marinette?”

Telling her before had helped, but now knowing that his partner was also Marinette, the girl he loved, and had gone to for comfort, made it all the better.

He didn’t protest as she reached forward and enveloped him in a hug.

Because right then, that was  _ exactly _ what he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Defeating Gabriel™  
I mean Hawk Moth, but he's not a brand.


	13. Shapeshift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I didn't have any good ideas for this chapter much, and even less motivation to do it. So it's short and not all that well done. Sorry.

After comforting him, Ladybug started talking to Chat.

It didn’t take them long to determine that they needed to confront Gabriel. Hawk Moth. His father.

Or better yet,  _ not _ confront him. Just… remove the problem.

So they went and… snatched it.

* * *

It was unfairly easy, to be perfectly honest.

With his father being asleep, and having stealth and night vision as Chat Noir, it was a simple matter of getting into the mansion (via Adrien’s bedroom), sneaking into his father’s room, snatching the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous (both conveniently placed on the nightstand next to his bed), and leaving.

And with the Miraculouses secured, the Superheroes of Paris headed off to Master Fu’s to return them to the Miraculous box.

Within half an hour (or twenty-six, if you’re counting since Adrien learned his father’s identity), the situation had completely shapeshifted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to balance out the potential urgency to defeat Hawk Moth with the fact that one prompt is akumatized, which got me stuck on the brainstorming for this chapter for a while. Fortunately, I got an idea for that, though it DOES still need work, but it convinced me to go ahead with my original idea to simply defeat Hawk Moth in this one. But I made it much less dramatic than the original idea of an actual confrontation, resulting in the miraculous being taken and him detransforming into Gabriel. But this served the same perfect in the larger scale of the fic.  
I won't leave it like this for long. I have more ideas for Fairytale, and plan on doing that Monday, because no school. Bonus: I'll start having less homework soon and MIGHT be able to post more. (Uncertain, because I'm still in a sport.)  
ANYWAYS- I hope you enjoyed it. And will still give it a chance after this not-so-great chapter.


	14. Fairytale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as you may have noticed, it did NOT get posted yesterday for... reasons.  
But I had already written this one, so I'm posting it now. (To anyone reading Double Blind Reveal: A Wor(l)d of Fun-- this won't be happening with it. It has NOT been written).

Adrien was still having difficulty believing how quickly his life had totally changed.

Paris no longer had any supervillains. It was all… surreal, if Adrien was going to be honest.

But still, knowing that his father  _ had _ been Hawk Moth made things… awkward. How was he supposed to face him? Accept that? Move on? Or be sincere- neither too harsh or too lenient- when helping choose what punishment should be placed upon him? Because he shouldn’t just go  _ free _ simply because he was Adrien’s father.

For the moment, until he was  _ forced  _ to make a more permanent choice, he would just try his best to avoid his father (which, admittedly, wasn’t all that hard), and go about school and such as normal as possible.

With one exception that he didn’t really mind.

Adrien spotted the pink feather on his desk and smiled, immediately knowing that it meant unconditional love from the times that his no-longer-(even-slightly)-secret admirer had left it before, and was expecting to see the message again.

But instead, it was...

> **Je t’aime.**

…and all the better for its simplicity.

Adrien’s smiled brightened, and then even more when the culprit walked into the room behind him.

He positively  _ beamed _ at Marinette. He walked up and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Thank you,” he whispered into her ear. “For realizing that it’s still difficult. And… if it’s worth anything…  _ je t’aime, aussi.” _

Although Marinette’s arms had instinctively wrapped around him earlier, he felt as her hold tightened after hearing those words. “I know. And I will be here as you- no,  _ we- _ figure out what needs to be done.”

Adrien pulled back to look at Marinette’s face, which was delightfully red. He felt a smirk creep onto his face. “I must admit that fairytales always led me to believe that it was the knight who came to rescue the princess, not the other way around.”

Marinette sighed, shaking her head. “That’s not the problem. You’re just getting mixed up who’s the princess and who’s the knight, your highness.”

He knew his face was flushed more than hers at  _ that. _ Which was saying something. “Can the princess offer the knight to go out on a date in the near future as a token of gratitude?”

She paused, pretending to debate it. “Well, there  _ is _ that new café dedicated to two heroes that the knight has been interested in visiting… And the knight  _ is _ available after school today…”

Adrien knew a yes when he heard one.

Sure. Things were far from perfect.

But it was magical moments like these that could make life like a fairytale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked this better than the last chapter. 'Cuz fluff.  
Hey, everyone like Reflekdoll?


	15. Coffee Shop (Café)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One order of fluff coming right up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this absolutely ridiculous?  
Yes.  
Am I going to change it?  
Absolutely not. I love it.

_ Bagels Héroïques _

Adrien stopped upon reading the sign of the café. When Marinette had told him that there was a café dedicated to, well,  _ them, _ this was not what he imagined.

And honestly, he had to admit that he  _ loved  _ it.

He knew his Chat-esque grin was about to turn into laughter when he heard Marinette next to him groan. Or was it a sigh? Hard to tell.

“I  _ swear _ I didn’t know what it was called. I’d only heard around about it.” So it was  _ both. _

Adrien relented and burst out into laughter. “Not complaining, princess- or, well, my knight. The only thing was that last I checked, we weren’t breakfast food.”

Marinette buried her face in her hands, red with shame. “It’s ridiculous. I’m sorry. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Nope. I like it. We’re going in.” Adrien reached out to grab Marinette’s hand and started dragging her towards the door.

She squeaked. “Adrien!”

He turned back to look at her. She had a flush on her face that he suspected no longer had to do with embarrassment. Or, at least, not the same kind as before. He didn’t try to prevent the smirk on his lips. “What?”

“It just… seems silly.” Marinette used her free hand to fiddle with her jacket. “Are you sure…?”

Adrien responded by shifting his grip and interlacing his fingers with hers. Her breath caught as he pulled his arm forward to bring her right by his side rather than a step behind. “Yes. I’m sure.”

* * *

Adrien considered the menu, trying to decide if that was  _ really _ what he wanted. Which… yes, yes it was.

He turned to Marinette, whose hand he was still holding. “Do you know what you want?”

She nodded, and they stepped up to the counter.

The cashier looked up at them and smiled. “Hello. What would you two like today?”

“I’d like to get a  _ bugabun, _ please.” He reached up and put his arm still holding her hand around her shoulders, which also draped her own arm across her chest. Adrien didn’t even think it was  _ possible _ for her face to get redder than it had been.

“A-and I’d like a  _ café Chat Noir, _ s'il vous plaît,” Marinette stuttered, still flustered from his flirting.

Adrien went up to pay, and she either didn’t care on a first date or was still too broken to argue the fact. It only took a minute to get their order and they headed to a table in the thankfully secluded café. He finally begrudgingly let go of Marinette’s hand in order to pull out her chair and help push her in, as any gentleman would.

Once he took his seat across from her, she was already sipping at her coffee. Adrien smirked. “You know, if you wanted to taste Chat Noir, I’m sure you could’ve just asked.”

Based on how close she appeared to nearly spitting it out and spraying him with it, it worked. She very forcibly swallowed. “What makes you think I would want that?” Marinette asked cautiously.

He shrugged. “You look thirsty, and he’s a tall glass of water.”

If someone were to compare her face to Ladybug’s suit, she would probably be redder.

“W-well, joke’s on you, because I am!” she (poorly) recovered. Until she realized what she said. “Whatever,” she grumbled. “You’re nothing but a flirt. It’s no better with your  _ bugabun.” _

Adrien lifted the pastry to his mouth, taking a bite. “Hmm. Not bad, but I think the real thing would be sweeter.” He grabbed her hand from across the table and delivered a kiss on it like he had as Chat Noir so many times to both Marinette and Ladybug. “I was right.”

Marinette’s breath caught again but her blush faded to  _ normal _ levels. Her expression morphed into a contented smile. “Oh, silly kitty. How do I put up with your antics?”

He shrugged. “Would you have it any other way, m’lady?”

She paused for a moment to consider. Then shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Neither would I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to start incorporating French in it these past two chapters. Last chapter was just I love you/ I love you too. Here's the translations for this chapter.  
_Bagels Héroïques_= Heroic Bagels  
_café Chat Noir,_= black cat coffee/ Chat Noir coffee  
_s'il vous plaît_= please(formal)


	16. Swap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no clue for what this chapter could be except to set up the next one, but... then this popped into my head.  
If you don't know anything about the Pokémon trading card game, don't feel bad, because I didn't either until I did a lot of research on it this morning. What you need to know for this chapter: 1 pokémon is in play, starts out basic, but can evolve if you have an evolution; you can swap out which pokémon you're using; other pokémon can sit and wait on a bench; energy cards can be used for attacks; you can only add one energy card per turn; damage counters keep track of damage; some types are weaker to other types. I think that's all you'll need to know.  
Their play is based off of the [bulbasaur](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51aao-rlYwL.jpg), [charmander](https://52f4e29a8321344e30ae-0f55c9129972ac85d6b1f4e703468e6b.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/products/pictures/1123533.jpg), [jigglypuff](https://assets.pokemon.com/assets/cms2/img/cards/web/XY1/XY1_EN_87.png), and [wigglytuff](https://static-6.studiobebop.net/pokemon_data/card_images/Wigglytuff__14_30__Wigglytuff_Half_Deck.jpg) cards.

“Uhh…” Marinette was looking down at her cards, trying to decide what she wanted to do.

Adrien sighed, waiting. Sometimes, she was so indecisive. He enjoyed his time with his newly-appointed girlfriend, but he wished that she wouldn’t spend so much time trying to come up with a plan. Every. Single. Time.

She glanced up, seeming to finally realize what a long time she was taking, and changed out her current pokémon for one on her bench.

Adrien groaned when he saw that she replaced squirtle with the bulbasaur she had used earlier, with 20 damage already on it.

Marinette placed a water energy on the card before looking back up. “What? I _ can _do that, right? It’s your turn now, anyhow.”

“You _ can _do that but…”

Adrien decided it would be best to finish his answer by playing. He gave his charmander a grass energy- the last one he needed- and said, “Flame tail.” He placed four 10-point damage counters on bulbasaur and flipped over his last prize card. “I win. Again.”

Marinette was frowning, looking down at the setup. “Wait. But ‘flame tail’ is only 20 damage.”

Adrien pointed at the spot identifying the weaknesses on her card. “But bulbasaur is twice as vulnerable to fire attacks. So, you’re _ dead. _”

She examined the card more closely. “Is _ that _ what it says? _ Faiblesse? _ I don’t read English well.”

_ Oh. Right. _ Maybe Adrien should have gone over the rules more. Especially considering that he had started getting into them after he learned about them during a trip to New York with his father, and kept getting them from America. Including the ones he gave to Marinette.

Marinette, who was notably worse with English than he was.

“Sorry. I guess I kinda just threw you straight into it, didn’t I?” He took her cards to see what she had. “I guess you don’t exactly have very good cards. Let’s trade.”

He pulled out his cards that he was normally willing to trade, while still considering Marinette’s.

“Ooh! Can I have jigglypuff?”

Adrien gave Marinette a sideways glance. “Seriously?”

She shrugged. “It’s cute and pink!”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he held it out. “Fine. In exchange for bulbasaur, so that you can’t make that terrible of a mistake again.”

“Deal.”

They swapped the cards.

* * *

Adrien was beginning to seriously regret giving Marinette that jigglypuff.

Of course, it was nice to have more fair play after having explained everything to her thoroughly, but she was unfairly good with that pokémon. Not to mention that she had somehow managed to get her hands on a Wigglytuff, and the evolution just sped up her wins.

Marinette placed down a fairy energy card, the last one she needed, and met Adrien’s eyes before declaring, “Double-Edge.”

Even with bulbasaur at full HP, that was overkill. True, it did take away 10 HP from wigglytuff, but it gave Marinette the last prize card _ she _ needed to win.

It had only taken a week for Marinette to be as good at beating him in Pokémon as on UMS 3.

Adrien groaned. “I never should have introduced you to this game.”

Marinette gave a rather convincing evil laugh. “There is nothing that will stop _ me _ from winning!”

“I already knew that, milady,” he said, sighing contentedly.

She smiled at him, all evil tendencies gone. “Still, you’re a little too silly for your own good, kitty. Introducing me to another way to kick your butt is far from your best idea.”

Adrien was going to retort when they were interrupted by Wayzz at the window. “Ladybug! Chat Noir! Master Fu needs your help!”

* * *

By the time they arrived, everything seemed… the same.

Marinette spoke up first. “Master Fu! Are you alright?”

Master Fu nodded, but looked a little dazed. “Some sort of thief came in and knocked me out. Once I woke up, nothing seemed out of place.”

Adrien and Marinette shared a glance, frowning.

“Should we check the Miraculouses?” Adrien suggested.

“Yes, yes,” Fu replied, taking them over and opening the box. There was a collective sigh of relief after seeing the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses there. Then they double-checked every other one not in use at the moment.

Each one was there.

But none of them noticed the phony replacement on Master Fu’s wrist, or the absence of Wayzz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNNN!!!!  
Cliffhanger. Ideally will be rectified before the end of the day.  
And... oh. Yes.  
_Faiblesse_= weakness
> 
> And I figured how to do fancy text in the notes and am **so** excited about it!!!!


	17. Akumatized

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some questions are answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno what happened with this...  
I had an idea that I liked, but it was difficult to carry out in story format. For everyone who was wondering: _here's_ what happened to Wayzz.

Marinette was biting her lip, tapping her thumb, and looking altogether  _ very worried _ as Adrien approached her. She even jumped when he slid into a seat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders until she saw it was him and let out a breath of relief.

Adrien tilted his head. “What’s bothering you?”

She sighed, shrugging. “Just, I’ve felt  _ off _ since Master Fu’s yesterday. I’m no expert, but I doubt most people go and rob a… whatever it is that he does for a living. It’s probably connected to the Miraculouses.”

Adrien nodded his agreement. “I feel the same. If you like, we can patrol the city after school. If anything suspicious shows up, we’ll pounce on it right away.”

Marinette smiled at him. “That would make me feel better.”

* * *

As it turned out, they didn’t even last the day.

It started with an announcement to turn the news on.

Where they learned that there was a terrorist attack going on, including holding the mayor hostage.

People would be escaping, but…

There was an awfully familiar hexagonal green shield dome surrounding the area.

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a glance, and both asked to go to the restroom.

At least they knew which Miraculous went missing last night.

* * *

It  _ only _ took them until they arrived at the scene to realize that there really wasn’t much to do until they could get past that shield. And considering that it was generated by a Miraculous… well, good luck with that.

Yeah, they went back to Master Fu’s and got his input.

After being caught up on the situation (though they did need to- he already knew), Master Fu stroked his beard as he considered what to do.

Then he turned to Adrien (oh, yeah- they detransformed). “Chat Noir. Your cataclysm can dissolve it.”

Plagg raised an eyebrow. “Not with the restraints that you make us put on the kids.”

Master Fu frowned. “You’re correct… but they are unable to handle the full powers of the Miraculous.”

Plagg shrugged. “It was never  _ my _ idea. And it’s totally  _ not _ like you have a way to give him the power he needs while controlling it.”

Marinette caught on to whatever Plagg was implying. “True! We have the Butterfly Miraculous in our possession.”

Adrien wasn’t liking where this conversation was going.

Especially when the Miraculous box opened and Master Fu  _ put on _ the brooch in question. “Wings rise.”

Marinette transformed, and Adrien followed suit. The… transformed version of Master Fu (because Adrien would  _ not _ call him Hawk Moth) was staring directly at him, a white akuma like the ones that were purified came towards him and intercepted his ring.

Upon contact, his ring turned white, as if absorbing the magic.

_ “Chat Nuit.”  _ Adrien experienced a bizarre effect of hearing Master Fu’s voice both in his head and from across the small room.  _ “I give you your powers without restraint… while being able to physically and mentally handle the responsibility.” _

Chat looked up at him and tentatively nodded. “I accept.”

He was engulfed in a white light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Chat Nuit_= Night cat~  
Oh well. _nuit_ means night. I thought it was a cool and appropriate name to intensify Chat's powers to.  
And... look at that. I sprinkled in some of my ideas as to why their powers are limited. Until next time!


	18. Cosplay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the cosplay part is pointless, and irrelevant and unnecessary, so feel free to ignore it.  
I don't know when I'll update this again, except that it's not this weekend. So it's temporarily on hiatus.  
Changing it up, the translations at the front.  
_Ce n'est pas bon_= this isn't good  
_vraiment_= really

Chat Nuit didn’t look really all that different from Chat Noir.

Just stronger, darker, and altogether…

Much,  _ much  _ more dangerous.

When he and Ladybug landed amongst the news crews covering the event, he was given some weary second-glances, as reporters and technicians realized that he wasn’t  _ quite _ the same.

Unfortunately, it was very crowded. But Ladybug took care of that. “Please stand back as we do our work!  _ That includes YOU, Nadja!” _

People listened to Ladybug. Chat smiled, wondering how he’d managed to get such a wonderful girl to agree to become his girlfriend.

Once everyone was a safe distance away, Chat refocused on his task. “Cataclysm!”

The power seemed far more potent in this form. It was like a weak black hole, a dark magnet, even warping some of the light around it in like a true black hole would. It was so incredibly dangerous.

If this was what powers Plagg could grant if he didn’t restrain them, then Adrien understood why they didn’t trust a teenage boy with this on a regular basis.

Chat Nuit took a deep breath before reaching out with the  **Destructive** hand and touching the gigantic dome shield.

The universe seemed to send out a shock wave. As if this were something that wasn’t supposed to happen. Which, in reality, it  _ wasn’t. _

It felt  _ so _ wrong watching the manifest powers of  **Destruction ** and  **Protection** fight. The black energy crawled along the surface of the dome, targeting the points where the hexagons met. In retaliation, the shield glowed green, even letting out bursts of light to temporarily dispel its assailant.

But, aside from  **Creation** , the power of  **Destruction ** is the most powerful in the universe. So what chance did  **Protection** have against its unleashed form, really?

The dome gave one last pulse of light before giving up the fight and bursting into countless hexagonal shards before dissolving completely from the eye.

They were in.

* * *

Upon the release of the Miraculous shield, many of the captives came rushing out. Which was only logical. Who would  _ want _ to be near a terrorist if they could help it (or didn’t have some civic duty because they’re a superhero)?

No, the strange thing was that they were all wearing some sort of…

_ Costumes? _

Chat Nuit and Ladybug exchanged a glance.  _ “Ce n'est pas bon.” _

She just rolled her eyes.  _ “Oh, vraiment?” _

But Chat  _ was _ right. It was bad.

Because they were all wearing costumes that could belong to a transformed holder of the Turtle Miraculous.

Which meant it would be just that much more difficult to find the true culprit. The thief. The terrorist.

“He could be  _ anywhere,” _ Chat murmured.

Ladybug cast a sideways glance his way. “For the record, women are equally capable of being supervillains. Besides, it’s not as hard as you think. If you were a terrorist with a valuable hostage, where would you go?”

“...Inside.”

She smiled at him. “And that’s where  _ we’ll _ go.”

* * *

Most of the captives managed to get away from the city hall very quickly, leaving lots of ease for Ladybug and Chat Nuit to get in. Not that they took their time. Not when the mayor’s life was on the line. (They may not be his biggest fans ( _ that  _ was Chloe) but he was undoubtedly important.)

They quickly tracked the terrorist and Mayor to the Mayor’s office in the center. They burst into the room right as the terrorist seemed to be registering what had happened.

Right as she- because it was now obvious that it  _ was _ a  _ she- _ started to put up an _ other, _ smaller shield.

The same moment Chat made a split second decision to dive in, somehow managing to get caught  _ inside _ it.

Separating him from Ladybug.

She pounded on the shield. “Chat!”

He turned to her. “Ladybug. I can take care of this. Go make sure that everyone else is safe.”

Ladybug looked conflicted for a moment. Then she said something so quiet he couldn’t hear. What  _ did _ reach his ears was, “I trust you. Make it out alive, kitty.”

With that, she dashed off to do grand, superheroic-y things.

Chat turned back to the terrorist.

Whom looked thoroughly unimpressed. “Seriously? I’ve heard that you’re the romantic type, but… I didn’t expect you to be  _ that _ sappy.”

He froze. “How do you-”

“-know your identity?” she finished. “I had reason to suspect, and… considering your father is as oblivious as you, I knew I couldn’t take his word that you  _ weren’t _ . He messed up  _ big _ time.”

Adrien finally noticed the fencing sabre in her hand as she stalked up to him. How did she  _ know _ so much? This was no ordinary terrorist.

Adrien was terrified, but when had that ever stopped him before? He rushed toward the Terrorist, who somehow stepped deftly to the side and tripped him. Securing him on the ground so that he couldn’t move his left arm, she picked up his right.

_ The ring. _ Chat did the only thing that he could think of “Cata-”

The ring was off.

“...clysm.”

She got off of his back and threw his ring on the ground to stomp on it and release the white akuma.

“Of course…” the terrorist mused. “I don’t want to make Chat Noir go down  _ this _ easily. I want to  _ earn  _ this. So-” she grabbed another sabre from off of the desk next to the bound mayor and tossed it to him, snapping Adrien back to his senses as he barely caught it.  _ “En guarde.” _

“Wait!” Adrien protested. “Why do you want to fence me?”

An amused smirk played on her lips. “Oh, right. I suppose I have the advantage of you. Here. Let me make it even. No Miraculous superpowers. No hidden identities. Wayzz, shell off.”

All Adrien could do was gape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enough said. Let's leave on that cliffhanger. Trust  
Me, it's kinder than letting you know who it was.  
I'll tell you the secret if anyone wants. Otherwise, until  
Later!  
I like acronyms, don't you?  
Eh.
> 
> After someone pointed out that Chat gave up too easily, I went back and fixed it. Still not perfect, but better.


	19. Fencing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... Not a lot of fencing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and made a couple of changes to the last chapter after some people commented that Adrien lost his ring too easily. Which I agreed with, after it came to my attention. I tried to actually reread and edit this chapter before posting it, so hopefully it's better.  
(Also, I hope that you're not actually expecting much fencing, because I don't really know how to write action/ fighting.)

The shield had come down when she had detransformed, but it might as well have been up for how immobilized Adrien was. He had so many questions racing through his mind. But most importantly…  _ “How? Why?” _

At least the mayor had been passed out this whole time, so Adrien didn’t have to worry about  _ that. _

She smiled that sweet, beautiful smile which lit up the vivid green eyes that he had missed and dreamed about for so long. “We’ll talk about that later, Sunshine.” The sunlight coming in through the window glinted off of her golden hair as she lifted up her sabre. “Now, I didn’t teach you how to fence for nothing.  _ En guarde.” _

* * *

_ Adrien parried his mother’s attack as she lunged at him. She smiled as he did so. _

_ Then it was  _ his _ turn to go on the offensive. He started to bring his sabre forward, but it was too late. He forgot that she was already near his defenses, and she darted in as he opened up. “Touché.” _

_ Adrien sighed. “You’re too good, Mom. When will I ever become as good as  _ you?”

_ Emilie chuckled. “Practice, Sunshine. I’m sure you’ll beat me some day.” _

* * *

_ Adrien looked up as the floor beneath him stopped moving. _

_ It was actually quite nice, at first, for being underground. A quaint pathway up to a garden. It was what was in the middle of that garden that was… disturbing. A glass coffin, with no one in it other than… _

_ “Mom?” _

_ Adrien’s heart broke. _

_ She wasn’t just missing. She was dead. _

* * *

But she wasn’t dead anymore.

“Why?” he croaked out again.

Emilie chuckled. “I already told you. Later. Now let’s see how good you’ve gotten since I’ve been gone.”

* * *

Ladybug was worried about Chat Noir- ugh, Chat Nuit…? Ugh, just  _ Chat. _

Well, she was worried about him.

The portion of the shield that she could see from the outside had disappeared a while ago, and she had no idea  _ why. _ She didn’t know what had happened to him, or even if he was where she had left him.

Once she was finished making sure that all of the civilians were out of harm’s way, she wasted no time in dashing back to the mayor’s office. Ladybug was about to get in before she had the presence of mind to realize that it might be good to have a Lucky Charm. Who knew  _ what  _ she would find in there, besides the fact that it probably wasn’t good.

Ladybug threw her yoyo in the air. “Lucky Charm!”

And down came a mug.

As per usual, she had no clue what she would use  _ that _ for, but she quickly strung the yoyo string through the handle and hung it around her waist.

Now, it was time to check up on Chat.

* * *

Adrien had no idea  _ how _ he did it, but he somehow got to his feet and focused.

On fencing- no,  _ fighting  _ Emilie. His mother.

His body felt like it was moving of its own accord, but he seemed to be holding his own. Especially judging by that slight smile that his mo-  _ Emilie _ had. She  _ had _ always liked it when Adrien did well against her.

And he was only distracted for a moment when Ladybug came into the room. Then he turned his attention back to Emilie, who had apparently not allowed herself even that moment of distraction, and tackled him to the ground.

It was so painful to see her smile as she shook her head in disappointment. “Sunshine, you should know better than to ever take your eyes away from your opponen-”

Her sentence was cut short as Ladybug came up behind her and smashed something- was that a  _ mug?-  _ that shattered against her head. Emilie slumped forward.

Adrien pushed her off of him. “You should listen to your own advice.”

Ladybug gave him a cursory glance as she began gathering up the shards of whatever ceramic she had used.. “I’ll want the story on what exactly happened later, but for now-” she stood up with the pieces and threw them into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

There wasn’t a lot to change. Not this time. But Adrien went and picked up one of the things that did and slid it on his finger. “Claws out.”

Chat Noir looked back at Ladybug, and gestured to Emilie Agreste. “What are we going to do with  _ her?” _

She followed his gaze. “I know Master Fu would like to see her and have some answers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Explanations about Emilie are _next_ chapter.  
Sorry about the Lucky Charm. I needed one to restore everything, and literally just looked around the room I was in at the time.


	20. Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which it has nothing to do with music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Finally posting another chapter for an Adrien Augreste story in... December.  
My excuse: I wrote this chapter once, watched Feast, lost my motivation, then focused on school for a couple of months. But now I've got a new plan for the story that I like better.  
Thanks for sticking with it.

* * *

_ Gong _

Adrien jolted awake and looked around… well,  _ not  _ his room, apparently. Oh. Right. They were at Master Fu's. 

_ Gong _

Adrien looked over to the source and saw Master Fu using a gong around a person lying down on the mat, with Marinette watching from beside him. Adrien knew exactly who it was, but he didn't want to.  _ That _ would be painful.

_ Gong _

Adrien sighed. Marinette looked over, glanced at Fu, and then came over by him. She smiled. "Glad to see you awake at last, sleeping beauty. Rest well?"

Adrien nodded, speechless, trying to look anywhere but at  _ that person. _

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marinette purse her lips. "Well, you needed it. You had a rough day." They were silent for a moment. "...You wanna talk about…  _ her?" _

He shook his head.

Marinette sighed. "We'll wait and listen to what Master Fu has to say. He senses something wrong."

_ Gong _

There was hope for… his mother.

_ Gong _

That was like music to Adrien 's ears.

* * *

_ "There was dark energy in her soul. I managed to neutralize it, so she should be able to wake up in a few minutes." _

That's what Master Fu said. Adrien sat beside her nervously, not sure if he should be hopeful or not. She, Emilie, his mother, wasn't necessarily herself.

So, what did that mean she really was?

As she began to stir, he held his breath. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to do.

Emilie opened her eyes. Adrien didn't  _ have _ to choose. Her dazed eyes explored the room until they fell on him. "Wh- Adrien… you've grown."

So… she didn't remember seeing him earlier. Was that a good thing? With everything having gone as terribly as it had lately, it was hard to be optimistic, but Adrien tried.

"Yeah," he managed to choke out. "It's been a couple of years since you fell into a coma. I guess I have."

Emilie sighed. "I wish I could have been there for you. I know how emotionally distant your father can be. And that Nathalie …"

"It's fine. It's not like you  _ purposely _ fell into a coma ... right?"

She gave him a sad smile. "I don't really know how I got into a coma, but I don't think so." And she looked him in the eye and cupped his cheek with her hand. "But please never doubt that I'll love you, Adrien."

Adrien couldn't hold back the tears any longer. This was his mother. The true HER. And she still loved him as much as he loved her.

He dived into her embrace, able to hear her heartbeat again.

Now that was  _ truly _ music to his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry about Marinette. She just went home.  
Uh... Thanks for reading. I'm not sure how well my thoughts are being conveyed. But I hope you like the story.


	21. Modeling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, in the course of rewriting the last chapter, I forgot to keep an idea that I actually really like and wanted to happen that the turtle miraculous enabled Emilie to slip out of her coma, because of its longevity. Also why I believe Master Fu was able to live for so long.  
It's going to come up in this chapter, so I'm letting you know.

The call to his father to ask for a ride to pick them up was awkward. So was the car ride back.

But Adrien would take that a thousand times over _ this._

Gabriel hadn't been told that Emilie had been with Adrien.

He wasn't out himself when they arrived, of course, but Nathalie was. She looked up, saw Adrien, Emilie, then her typically neutral expression dropped in exchange for a grimace, though for only a moment. “Adrien, your father’s been worried about you. The school reported that you left the classroom after the terrorist report, and haven’t been seen since.”

Adrien nodded. “Well… because I found my mother.”

Behind him, Emilie timidly waved. “Could you call Gabriel out here, Nathalie?”

The assistant did so, and promptly ignored them for the full thirty seconds until he was out there. “Adrien, I-”

Gabriel cut off as he saw his wife standing behind his son, and rushed down to see her up close, holding her and looking her up and down, as if to make sure she was real. “Emilie. But how…?”

Emilie smiled at her husband, holding up her wrist to show the turtle miraculous. “This is keeping me alive. Apparently I became some sort of terrorist. I don’t really remember much, except for waking up in a…  _ Master Fu’s  _ house afterwards.”

Oh. Maybe Adrien should have warned her not to say that, knowing he was Hawk Moth and all. He  _ believed _ that he only wanted the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculouses to get his wife back from the brink of death, but… if he was willing to be a supervillain once, he might not be opposed to doing something similar again in order to achieve some other goal.

Gabriel turned to look at Adrien. “Master Fu’s…” Then his eyes widened. “Then… you’re Chat Noir, and that means Marinette…”

Adrien nodded. His father had obviously figured it out. Hopefully he wouldn’t act on the information. “We took your miraculous once I figured it out after finding… the room downstairs. Father, you didn’t steal it and give it to her, did you?”

Gabriel shook his head.

“Then who-?”

Adrien was cut off by a sigh. Nathalie stood up, drawing their attention.  “ _ I _ did. And it’s time for me to stop modeling as a perfect assistant. Now, hand me the miraculouses.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raise of hands, who saw that coming?  
Because I did _ not. _


	22. Gaming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly just advancing the plot. Very brief and loose use of the prompt "gaming" at the end. Maybe I'll see if I can _ actually _ get it in before the end.

Gabriel was the first to speak. “Nathalie? What are you saying?”

She sighed dramatically again. “I do believe I spoke in French, Gabriel. Give me the miraculouses.”

Adrien figured that Nathalie was  _ probably  _ Mayura. But she still had always seemed so nice, almost even more caring than his father. So this was very confusing.

“Why do we need to give them to you?” Adrien asked. He hadn’t fought Hawk Moth and Mayura for two years simply to  _ give  _ his ring to… Nathalie.

Nathalie walked over to join them. “Fine. I’m an outside agent for a Tibetan program that is trying to restore the Miraculous, so that they can _ not _ be used the way Gabriel has.”

That… actually didn’t sound too bad.

Emilie leaned over to Adrien and asked, “What’s the deal with all these Miraculous?”

“They can basically give a person superpowers,” he replied.

Her eyes widened and she looked at the turtle miraculous on her wrist. “ _ Cool. _ ”

Nathalie continued with her story. “I applied to this position after we discovered that Gabriel was in possession of two miraculouses. Then it was a matter of gaining your trust to become Mayura. I was going to use information that we learned to find the Guardian and gain the Miraculous box."

Adrien would be lying if he said that didn't trigger any fear. "What is your organization going to use the Miraculous box for?"

"To re-establish the order of the Tibetan Monks that was destroyed."

He bit his lip, considering it. "We won't give you anything yet, but would you be opposed to letting us see if the Guardian is willing to do this?"

Nathalie narrowed her eyes in consideration. "If you could try to arrange a meeting for tomorrow night, it would certainly be more convenient to do it on amicable terms."

Adrien nodded. "I'll talk to him."

The game they were playing had just totally changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current projection for this fic: Unless something crazy happens again, I'll hope to have this finished by the end of February... six months after it was supposed to be finished, but hey, school's hard. And time-consuming.  
I plan to have somewhere between 3 and 5 more chapters to finish this current plot line, followed by 4 to 6 chapters of fluff, respectively. I have the plot stuff figured out, but nada about the fluff, so... we'll get there when we get there. Except I'll probably try to formulate _ something _ of a plot line even for the fluff, albeit perhaps with large time skips.


	23. Puns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since every comment from the last chapter was along the lines of "Interesting plot twist!" I'll take that it was, indeed, an interesting plot twist.
> 
> No, I did _ not _ intend to make this chapter 1,885 words long. But there was a lot of important plot to be covered in this one, and I got a bit carried away with the puns.

"Really?" Marinette exclaimed after Adrien filled her in on the events that happened at his house the previous day. "It always seemed like Nathalie was Mayura because of… her feelings for your father."

Adrien shrugged. "I thought so too. Guess she really is _ heartless. _"

"Was that pun _ really _necessary?" she groaned.

"Why?" He leaned in closer. "Is it really such a _ pun _ishment?"

His girlfriend playfully shoved him away. "Why do I put up with this?" But as always, her smile betrayed her.

"Ha! You smiled! You liked it!"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "In your dreams."

Adrien smirked. "I'm dating you, so my dreams have a pretty good likelihood of coming true."

"At least you're feeling good enough to be joking around," Marinette changed the topic, so they weren't discussing how much she loved puns. Because obviously she did. Adrien knew her too well. "After yesterday…"

This sobered him up. "I mean, things got to be not so bad, and I don't exactly have a reason to be quite so upset anymore."

She nodded. "Especially if this works out for everyone."

They were on their way to Master Fu’s house right then. They were almost to it, actually.

Adrien smiled at her. “So, you like the idea?”

“Master Fu _ has _ told me about how he was part of the order of the monks. If they’re trying to reestablish it, that might not be too bad. But I _ do _want Master Fu’s opinion on it first.”

“I really hope it does,” Adrien said.

Marinette nodded her agreement. “But let’s make it quick. We need to get there in about twenty minutes if we want to meet up and see what Alya was talking about before the new exhibit is revealed.”

They stopped in front of the door to the massage parlor and knocked on the door. There were some noises before he came and answered the door. “Come in. Though I’ll warn you that I have a client right now.”

Okay. That meant they had to keep their mouths shut about their identities. At least until his client left.

Except, when they walked into the actual parlor, they were surprised who they saw.

Almost as surprised as Sabine herself. “Marinette? Adrien? What are you two doing at my massage appointment?”

The teenagers glanced nervously at each other. “Uhh…”

“They’re Ladybug and Chat Noir, and came to see me.” Adrien’s eyes shot over to see that it was _ Master Fu _who had said it. “I assume it has something to do with your mother being here yesterday?”

“You’re just _ telling _ her?” Marinette exclaimed. He looked over and saw that her eyes were as wide as his felt.

“I _ am _ your mother, Marinette,” Sabine said. “Since Hawk Moth is gone, it shouldn’t hurt. And it certainly _ does _ explain why you two got in a relationship so suddenly. Now, what’s this about your mother?”

Still recovering from the whole Marinette’s-mom-now-knows-who-we-are thing, Adrien smirked as he thought of something that brought him out of his daze. “Sure, since you brought it up…”

He might have had the joy of making a bit of wordplay without anyone else being any the wiser, but his girlfriend knew him a _ little _too well for that. “What is it?”

He kept up the act a bit. “What? We can tell your mom about yesterday, and then catch them up on what happened afterwards.”

Marinette was still skeptical. “I know that expression. You said something that you thought was hilarious.”

“Fine. Besides the fact that she’s your mom and _ brought you up... _ ” Since he was caught, the fun was gone, so he might as well geek out on them. “[According to Roman mythology, the Sabines were a tribe that raised Romulus and Remus.](https://family.disney.com/baby-names/baby-girl-names/meaning-of-sabine/) So, yes, I _ raise _ it as a _ tremendous _ pun.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What? Did you look up the origin of the names of everyone you know _ just _ to make a pun about it?”

“…Maybe.”

“Nerd,” Marinette scoffed. “Just promise to never let me know what you figured out for _ mine.” _

Adrien did his _ best _ to act natural by shrugging and keeping a calm expression as he said, “Whatever rocks your boat.” He even took the extra measure to return his gaze to Sabine and refocus the conversation. “ _ Any _how, about my mother… she’s alive.”

Sabine’s eyebrows rose, surprised at the statement. “I was under the impression that she was-”

“Dead?” Adrien finished. “So was I, but then…”

He trailed off, realizing that there was a _ lot _ more to explain about it all.

Fortunately, Marinette seemed to have the same train of thought. “We should probably explain some other things first. I’ll give you the spark notes version.”

Marinette took a deep breath, and Adrien was surprised at how fast she spoke. “Adrien figured out that his dad was Hawk Moth so we snuck in and stole the butterfly and peacock miraculouses and revealed our identities and started dating and everything was fine until Master Fu’s was broken into and his turtle miraculous was stolen by Nathalie- who is part of a Tibetan government agency that wants to reestablish the Guardians of the Miraculous, by the way- and she somehow gave it to Emilie, which revived her but she also used some sort of dark energy that gave her control over and turned Emilie into a terrorist to lure us out so that she could retrieve our miraculouses but we took care of her and brought her back to Master Fu and he neutralized it and then she and Adrien went back to the mansion where they found out about Nathalie and we’re here today to tell him about it and ask what he thinks about it.”

True, she said it fast, and to be fair, she did have a lot to summarize, but both Master Fu and Sabine seemed to follow. The latter just said, “Wow.”

It took Master Fu a moment longer to process it all, but then he just looked at them. “Reestablish the Guardians of the Miraculous, you say?”

Adrien and Marinette nodded.

Fu still looked very troubled. “Well- uh…”

Marinette’s phone beeped, a reminder to both of them that they had to head to the museum. “We need to go to see the new exhibit at the Louvre. You don’t have to make a decision about it yet, but think about it, okay?”

Fu nodded, still looking concerned.

Sabine got up. “Well, my appointment’s done. Probably ran a little over. Do you mind if I go with you two?”

“Sure,” Adrien said. Then he looked over at the very worried man and asked, “You can come, too, if it will take your mind off things.”

Fu nodded. “That sounds… good. I don’t have anymore appointments today, so it should be fine.”

He gathered what he needed, and then they were off.

* * *

“Marinette! Adrien! Hello, Mrs. Cheng, and…” Alya trailed off when she saw Master Fu. “Who’s this?”

Right. Marinette had told him about Rena Rouge and Carapace, but it had always been _ Ladybug _ who gave them their miraculouses. So of course she didn’t know who Fu was. But what did they tell her then?

Fortunately, Sabine stepped in. “He’s the masseuse I go to. They found me right as I was getting out of an appointment, and we invited him to come along.”

Alya still seemed a little confused, but she seemed to accept it. “Okay. I guess I might as well show you _ all _ what I figured out. And there’s Alix!”

Alix joined them, and while she wasn’t particularly thrilled that a couple of “old people just _ had _ to tag along,” she was too glad to get out of the boring event to complain about it anymore. Since Nino also apparently wanted to get out of the boring event, he told Alya to “just send him the deets, dude.”

With everyone there, they were off, listening to Alya explain her theory about the symbol on all of them, which Adrien recognized as the one on the miraculous box. To be fair, it _ did _ make sense, Ladybug, Black Cat, Butterfly… Right up until she got to Hercules.

Alix was the one who spoke out. “A lion miraculous? Why not a bunny miraculous while you’re at it?”

Adrien agreed. They didn’t know _ anything _ about miraculouses like that.

So he was equally surprised when Master Fu spoke up. “Actually, there is both. I have the bunny miraculous in my possession, and recall the lion miraculous from my time as an acolyte in the Temple of the Guardians of the Miraculous in Tibet.”

That stopped _ both _ of them, though Alya spoke up first. “What are you saying?”

“That I’m the Guardian of the Miraculous, _ Rena Rouge. _”

Adrien gave up. Apparently hidden identities were now a thing of the past. Apparently the only important factor was whether or not a supervillain was terrorizing the city.

Ever the reporter, Alya asked, “So is my theory right?”

Fu nodded.

“Sweet!”

“Wait.” Alix held up a hand. “So you’re saying that this symbol actually _ means _ something for Miraculouses?”

“Yes.”

“Then is it relevant that the new exhibit that was dug up in Tibet has that same symbol?”

Master Fu’s expression darkened. “I know what it is, Your father is in charge of the museum, correct, miss?”

Alix nodded.

“Then I would like to speak with him. The Guardians of the Miraculous might not need to be reestablished if they could be _ restored.” _

* * *

Mr. Kubdel was more than willing to let them take care of the new exhibit, or _ Feast, _ as Master Fu called it. Apparently it was more convenient to apologize and explain about the exhibit to the public than have the risk of keeping an exhibit that was a sentimonster.

So there they were, as Ladybug and Chat Noir, with Master Fu and Nathalie as Mayura. They had decided that since she was the one who had the most recent experience with using it, and since they _ almost _ trusted her, it would be best for her to be in charge of getting rid of the sentimonster. And Chat had to admit, Mayura’s transformation sequence _ was _ pretty cool. He was almost jealous of it. _ Almost. _

She brought her fingers together, about to dispel the sentimonster, when Master Fu held up a hand.

“Wait. Before we get rid of it, use your Lucky Charm, Ladybug.”

Ladybug tilted her head in confusion, until it clicked. “Oh, so that we can restore everything afterwards. Lucky Charm!”

Down came a polka-dotted red-and-black shape in the miraculous symbol. Guess it really _ was _ only needed to restore everything.

Master Fu nodded to Mayura, who pulled her fingers apart, dispelling the sentimonster, leaving only a staff and an amuk in its wake.

Ladybug quickly deevilized the amuk, and released a pure one before throwing the Lucky Charm in the air and saying, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Chat was vaguely upset that he didn’t get to do anything. So, naturally, he made a pun about it. “How anti-_ claw _-matic.”

Ladybug turned to face him with a flat look. “Seriously? The puns? _ Again?” _

He shrugged defensively. “What? I feel undera-_ purr _-ciated.”

She walked over to him. “Just because we didn’t need you this particular time doesn’t mean that you’re not important. _ I _ a- _ purr _ -ciate you. Never think otherwise, because that would be just _ cat- _astrophic.”

Adrien could have purred out of content right there.<strike></strike>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Sabine name meaning ref](https://family.disney.com/baby-names/baby-girl-names/meaning-of-sabine/)  
[Marinette name meaning ref](https://www.names.org/n/marinette/about#associations), and I couldn't stop laughing when a couple of entries for this was "just a friend." But since that is no longer true in the context of this fic, I went for the meaning, "Of the sea."  
Another not-so-obvious pun was Adrien calling it a _ tremendous _ pun. It was supposed to be a reference to the large size of the Roman empire, since context for the one before it was about the founders of it <strike>though it escapes me at the moment of whether Romulus and Remus were true or purely beings of myth.</strike>  
I know it was long, but it covered everything I wanted it to. There wasn't any particular reason I needed Sabine in there, and I don't remember why I decided to in the first place, but I just went along with it.


	24. Flirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I finished this fairly quickly.  
Where did all this motivation come from?  
<strike>It was when someone in the tags of a post for Your Name said that there should be an ML AU for it and I really want to do it.</strike>

Marinette yawned and stretched, apparently done with her nap, and came off of where she was resting on his shoulder. Adrien immediately missed the warmth, but didn’t complain.

His girlfriend looked around groggily, until their eyes met, and she smiled. “Hey.”

Adrien returned the expression. “Good morning, beautiful.”

“You’re handsomer.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Handsomer? Is that even a word?”

Marinette nodded solemnly. “It is now.”

Adrien chuckled and took her hand in his. “As glad as I am to see you awake, I  _ did _ like it when we were sleeping together.”

“You make it sound so scandalous,” Marinette yawned. “When really it’s just because this flight left at an ungodly early hour.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t get all flustered about it.”

She shrugged, snuggling back close into him. “I’m used to you being a huge flirt by now.”

Her eyelids were getting heavier, so apparently she was still drowsy. Not that Adrien could blame her- it was still early, and even  _ he _ was tired.

Adrien brought the back of her hand to his lips. “Only for you, milady.”

But she was gone already.

Not that it mattered. There was still plenty of time until they got to Tibet. Not that the airplane seats were particularly comfortable, but it wasn’t the worst.

Oh right. They were on the airplane. Adrien glanced back, remembering everyone else in their entourage on the plane.

They were headed to Tibet, to reach the Temple of the Guardians of the Miraculous to return the Miraculouses and see what could be done for Emilie.

Naturally, there was two of them and Master Fu. He had also apparently brought the woman he loved- Marianne Lenoir? Then his parents, particularly since his mother still needed the turtle miraculous to not slip back into a coma. Nathalie came along, but it was in order to report to her agency, and she would part ways with them at the airport.

And Marinette’s parents. Tom had been updated on everything, and they decided to make a trip to China to visit Sabine’s relatives out of it. Tom, who had undoubtedly heard their conversation just now.

He was giving Adrien a warning look. Maybe he should turn down the flirting for the trip, and make sure to win the man over with puns.

Adrien gave him a nervous smile of apology, and went back to facing forward. Despite his concerns about the trip, it didn’t take long for him to drift off as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just a short, fluffy chapter that also establishes the final arc of this part of this story.  
The last chapter wasn't _bad_, per se, but it was certainly long. And the ones before it weren't exactly cheerful. So this was a breath of fresh air for me, at the very least.  
That being said, I have a feeling that the next one is going to be rather long. So it might take a while, depending how much writing time I get this weekend.


	25. Career

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I say anything about the fact that Timetagger should be completely ignored for this story? No?  
Well, Timetagger should be completely ignored for this story. Not TOO important, but yeah.  
This chapter was the first time I REALLY appreciated doing most of this Adrien’s POV, because he knows Chinese, and I didn’t have to worry AS much about a language barrier.  
First scene is some fluff I wanted to include in the last chapter, but didn’t really fit nicely there, and when I actually wrote it… turned a little angsty.

“Oh, look at him, he’s so cute,” Emilie said as cuddled Wayzz’s head.

Gabriel smiled tentatively smiled. “If you think that, dear. Though I never found kwamis particularly…  _ cute _ myself.”

Since his wife had come back, he had been making an honest effort to be more, well…  _ human. _ To keep it together for his family. While their family and relationships would never be able to be the same again, they were trying to make it work.

Emilie gasped dramatically at his comment, then turned back to Wayzz. “Don’t listen to that mean old man. I love you.”

That  _ mean old man  _ raised an eyebrow. “How, exactly, do you love him?”

She turned back and smirked at him. “In all the  _ Wayzz. _ ”

The conversation reminded Adrien of back before  _ everything _ . Back before he thought his mother had died, and his father became obsessed with getting her back.

And it  _ was  _ the same for Emilie. But Adrien could see the guilt there lurking behind Gabriel’s eyes, especially when talking about kwamis. Adrien hadn’t exactly known Nooroo very well, but from what he knew, Gabriel had treated him very poorly. A stark contrast to the love and adoration Emilie gave ti Wayzz, despite only having known him for a few days.

Adrien knew his father must have been severely regretting his actions as Hawk Moth now.

* * *

They had to get to the temple by helicopter. It was in such a remote location in the Tibetan mountains that the only other option was hiking in. Not a particularly appealing idea for a bunch of amateurs.

Especially with it being  _ so cold. _

But Adrien’s discomfort seemed mild compared to the obvious panic of the monks. Of course they were, though. Since Master Fu was about 188 years old by now, it would have been in the 1830s or 1840s when it came down. And they had no way of truly understanding this technological innovation that was coming upon them. Fortunately, they scattered aside enough so the pilot could land the helicopter safely.

All the monks were still visibly worried, but seemed to relax a bit as the blades slowed down and the noise stopped.

Everyone left the helicopter, but they had collectively decided that they should let Master Fu take the lead.

One of the monks who appeared to be a bit older than most of them and some sort of leader stepped forward. “Who are you and what do you want?” he asked in Chinese.

Never before had Adrien been so glad to know Chinese. Sure, there was that one time that Adrien helped Marinette with her uncle, but that was  _ one _ person, whereas  _ all _ of the monks would be speaking Chinese here.

Master Fu took a step forward, placed the Miraculous box and Grimoire in front of him, knelt down (which Adrien mentally shuddered at. Even though they were wearing clothing equipped for the cold conditions, that had to make him freeze), and bowed so lowly that it was practically a kowtow. “I’m back, Zhǔ.”

Marinette leaned towards Adrien. "What are they saying?"

He knew that she couldn't understand Chinese. In fact, of their party, only him, Master Fu, and  _ maybe  _ Sabine were able to follow the conversation. But it didn't seem proper to interrupt this for translation, so Adrien put a finger over his lips, indicating that she should just stay silent. He could fill her in later 

The  _ Master  _ didn't pay them any attention, focused on Fu. "Look up," he ordered.

Fu complied, and the other man studied his face until his eyes widened in recognition. "Wang Fu?"

He nodded. "It’s me, Zhǔ."

"But how are you so much older?"

Master Fu grinned sadly. "It’s a long story."

Apparently the Miraculous Restoration had also wiped the memories of the event with Feast. So Fu informed them of the event and everything that had happened regarding the miraculouses since- which was quite a shock- and about all the technological advancements in the past 160 years.

Then everyone else was introduced, though it was mostly awkward given the language barrier. Adrien and Sabine could speak for themselves, but Master Fu had to introduce everyone else, who timidly smiled or waved when they recognized their name being said.

Then the attention was drawn to the Grimoire and Miraculous box. The book was quickly sent away to where it was supposed to be kept, but Zhǔ opened and inspected the box. He frowned. “Three are missing, Wang.”

Fu gestured to Adrien and Marinette. “They are the Ladybug and Black Cat Wielders I told you about. And Emilie has the Turtle miraculous to help her stay out of a coma she slipped into from the effects of using the broken peacock Miraculous.”

Zhǔ looked closely at Emilie. “I see no trace of broken spirit. She should be fine to remove the miraculous. The Miraculous Cure repaired the Peacock Miraculous, and since it was the cause of her damage, she is fine.”

Master Fu translated this for Emilie, who took the miraculous off with no ill side-effects. She was sad that she no longer had an excuse to spend time with Wayzz 24/7, but she was also willing to accept it.

That was one concern taken care of.

* * *

It was that evening when Zhǔ gathered Master Fu, Marianne Lenoir, Adrien, and Marinette to discuss the Miraculous.

“I understand that you two plan to stay here?” Zhǔ directed towards Fu and Marianne.

Fu translated for Marianne and they both confirmed their intentions. “Neither of us will live much longer, but we want to serve the Miraculouses until we die.”

Then Zhǔ turned towards Adrien. “I understand that you can speak Chinese, Black Cat?”

He nodded. “My father insisted I learn it.”

“Then translate for your Ladybug.”

Adrien liked that phrase.  _ His Ladybug. _ He leaned to Marinette and explained, “Zhǔ just wanted to make sure that I could translate for you.”

She smiled and nodded in understanding.

Zhǔ didn’t wait long to start. “I understand that you two have become a most commendable Ladybug and Black Cat pair of wielders. I would like to thank you for being a source of good in this world.”

“He thinks that it’s  _ clawsome _ we were such a  _ meowgnificent _ pair of superheroes,” Adrien told Marinette.

She gave him a flat look. “He did  _ not _ say that.”

Adrien shrugged. “So I might have tweaked the words a little bit, but that's the gist of it.”

“Dork,” Marinette muttered to her boyfriend before they both returned their attention to Zhǔ, signaling for him to continue.

“It is impressive that you were able to fight off the malevolent use of another Miraculous.”

_ “Good job for beating my dad.” _

“However, to best protect them, you will need to leave the Miraculouses here.”

Adrien froze as he heard that, which instantly concerned Marinette. “What? What’d he say?”

Master Fu translated for her. “It would be best for you two to leave your Miraculouses here.”

Marinette stilled. “No.” It was barely a whisper. “Why should we?”

Adrien regained himself, though not terribly composed, demanded, “Why?”

Zhǔ gave them a sad expression. “There is no more danger in Paris that requires their use at the moment. I understand your desire to keep them- and your connection to your kwamis- but it would be safest here, with more protection and less chance of falling into the hands of evil. If there is ever again a need for a Ladybug and Black Cat wielder as long as you are able, you will be called upon. But until then, they would be safest here.”

Adrien nodded numbly, listening as Fu translated for Marinette.

They both looked up and shared a look, knowing what they had to do.

Adrien looked back to Zhǔ. “Can we have a moment to say goodbye first?”

* * *

“Ugh,” Plagg complained. They had decided to separate briefly to say goodbye to their respective kwamis in private. “This is going to be unnecessarily sappy, isn’t it?”

Adrien sighed. “I can’t believe I thought I was going to miss you. All you ever did was extort me for cheese and complain that I never gave you enough.”

Plagg smirked. “That’s how  _ all _ cats show their affection, don’t you know?”

“Except maybe not cheese.* But I see what you mean.” He smiled faintly. “You know, as much as I loved being Chat Noir, I think I’ll miss having a snarky cat around all the time.”

“I  _ knew _ there was a reason you spoiled me so much.”

Adrien sighed. “I guess that I’ll just have to manage without you.”

“And  _ I’ll _ have to manage without you.” Plagg sighed dramatically. “They always keep me on a strict diet here.”

Classic Plagg. “I hope I can get another chance to see you, little guy.”

The kwami shrugged. “Toodles.”

Adrien took off his ring, and Plagg disappeared.

* * *

“I don’t know what I’ll do without you, Tikki,” Marinette sighed. “You’ve helped me so much these past two years. What will I do without you?”

Tikki smiled at her. “But think about how much you’ve grown since we first met. I’m sure you’ll do just fine. Plus, now you have Adrien.”

Marinette smiled. “You’re right. I’ll still miss you, though.”

“And I’ll miss you. I have a special bond with all my wielders, and appreciate each one in a unique way. I’ll always remember you.”

Tikki flew up to give Marinette’s cheek a hug. “And don’t forget; we can always meet again.”

Marinette pulled back to give the little kwami a little kiss on her forehead. “Thanks, Tikki. You’re right, as always.”

Then she took a deep, calming breath and removed her earrings. Tikki vanished.

* * *

Adrien met up with Marinette before they went back to Zhǔ. He extended his hand not gripping his ring, and she took it with the one not clutching her earrings.

“Ready, milady?”

Marinette nodded timidly. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

It didn’t take long to give the miraculouses back to Zhǔ, who replaced them in their spots in the Miraculous box and thanking them before they left the room.

As soon as the doors shut behind him, Marinette collapsed into Adrien’s chest, sobbing. “S-sorry. I thought I could hold it together, but Tikki- she’s really gone.”

Adrien pulled his arms around her, softly brushing her hair. “Shh, shh. I understand how hard this is. But I’ve always told you that it’s you and me against the world, haven’t I, milady? And even if it’s now  _ just _ you and me against the world, we’ll be standing side by side.”

There superhero careers might be over. But they could still weather the storm together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Some cats like cheese. Like Tigger, one of my cats. He’s never had the chance to try camembert, but he certainly loves shredded cheddar.  
Zhǔ is just Chinese for Master(according to Google Translate- I don’t know Chinese). I didn’t want to come up with a name for a character that has to exist canonically in the show, but we know nothing about, so he’s kind of bland personality-wise, and also the reason for his name. I tried just writing Master in English, but it was repeated so much that it was annoying me.  
And there were some bland parts of this chapter that were so hard to write. I’m glad it’s over and I can move on to fluff.


	26. Hamsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sincerely apologize for any trauma caused due to the events of the last chapter. But it’s Fluff from here on out.  
On a totally unrelated note, I just realized that category for this fic is still ‘General.’ Which was definitely accurate when I started, but I think there’s been a bit much romance involved to keep it that way, so I fixed it.  
Warning: time skip. About one year. The first of several for the end part of this fic, so I can get what I want with it done.

A year. That’s how long it had been since Adrien had last seen Plagg.

It hadn’t been a bad year. Sure- it was hard to adapt for the first few days, but it didn’t take long to get used to it. Mostly.

Not to mention the  _ actual _ privacy he got was a nice benefit. Without that cat smirking and making fun of him constantly.

After they had gotten back from Tibet, Adrien and Marinette made sure to inform everyone who had ever held a miraculous about what happened. Except Chloe, because they didn’t trust her to keep a secret if her life depended on it, and they told Alix,since she had been around when Master Fu gave away their identities at the Louvre.

Adrien had started taking Marinette out on dates that were simply  _ wonderful,  _ and they slowly grew more comfortable with each other. From holding hands and hugging each other to sweet kisses and maybe the occasional make-out session.

Nathalie had retired from her position as Gabriel’s assistant, claiming it was too tasking of a job and that she had no need or desire to keep it now that her original reason for taking it was fulfilled.

Gabriel realized that he just  _ might  _ have been a little hard on… well, not just Nathalie (though she bore the brunt of it), but all of his employees, and Adrien. Though this realization may have also been made with the help of Emilie.

Of course, the fashion world was always demanding, but Gabriel hired several assistants to help him manage his business and did more planning ahead to alleviate the stress of the time to design and create new products and lines.

And at Emilie’s absolute  _ insistence, _ Adrien stopped modeling, something he was immensely grateful for. He had never enjoyed it- or how much time the photoshoots took. His fans were shocked at first, but soon got over it, especially with his unlikely replacement- Wayhem. Adrien had put in a word about him to his father, and the boy was more than eager to start a modeling career. 

And the fans had taken an instant liking to him. Wayhem was probably even  _ more _ popular than Adrien ever was. Adrien almost instantaneously became a memory of the past, and got as close to a normal life as possible.

As for his other extracurriculars, his parents decided to let  _ him  _ choose if he kept any of them. Adrien enjoyed fencing, so he kept that, and he decided it wouldn’t hurt to keep up on his Chinese lessons. And it didn’t hurt that Marinette decided to join them with him.

The Agrestes in general had been hanging out more often, becoming more of a family. Adrien’s large room didn’t feel so empty anymore.

And that’s why it hurt so much more when his parents were off on a business trip they couldn’t avoid, and suddenly it felt more isolated than ever before.

* * *

Marinette knocked on Adrien’s door. “Anyone home?”

Adrien perked up as his girlfriend entered the room.

He walked over to her and gave her a quick peck on her lips in greeting before pulling her into a bear hug. "I'm so glad to see you."

"More than usual, I can tell," Marinette wheezed out. "You're crushing me."

"Sorry!" Adrien immediately loosened his grip, pulling back so that his arms were only loosely wrapped around his girlfriend.

She took a moment to breath, but smiled to let him know that,  _ really,  _ she was okay. "That's part of why I decided to come over. I know it's been a while since you haven't had your parents around."

Adrien's shoulders fell. "You'd think I'd be used to it, from when my mother was in a coma and my father hardly saw me at all. But… at least then, there was Plagg to fill the silence with complaints of how I was starving him by giving him  _ only _ two full wheels of Camembert a day."

"I know." Marinette smiled a sad, soft smile. "I miss Tikki, too. But I don't have to worry about the loneliness from my parents leaving for business, like you do. We live above it."

Adrien rested his forehead against hers. "I understand _ why  _ we can't keep them, and Plagg is kinda… irreplaceable. But I wish there was I could have something, preferably small and easy to look after, to live the place up."

"I can think of something small. About the same size of a kwami, in fact." Marinette leaned back with a peculiar look in her eyes. "How do you feel about Hamsters?"

* * *

The names they gave the hamsters were Plagg and Tikki. And they fit perfectly.

Tikki was a ginger color and as sweet as could be. Even though they knew from research that they were only supposed to feed the hamsters fresh food, like fruits and vegetables, she loved chocolate chip cookies as much as her namesake, and since she didn’t appear to suffer from it, Adrien and Marinette allowed it.

Tikki was definitely more of  _ Marinette’s  _ pet. Even though both had to stay at Adrien's since Marinette lived above a  _ bakery _ , Tikki clung to Marinette while she was there. Adrien sometimes wondered if she came by to see him or the hamster.

Plagg, on the other hand… was, well, like  _ Plagg. _

He devoured any piece cheese he could get his paws on, lazed around most of the time, and was irritable whenever he  _ wasn't. _ But still, there was some endearing about the little guy.

No. They weren't the same. Both were loved in there own special ways.

But it helped them remember their kwami's without it being too painful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never thought I would look up stuff about how to take care of hamsters, but this chapter proved me wrong. I don't know if they're actually called paws or not, though.  
Fun fact: namesake can refer to either the person who was named after someone else or the person named after. I only know because I'm named after my great aunt and it came up in a conversation with my sister, and we weren't sure, so we looked it up.  
And… there's a Valentine's event that's for the first two weeks of February that I'm going to be participating in, so this is going on the back burner while I work on it. Unless I somehow miraculously get more chapters of that written than I already have and finish this fic up before then. But I figured I'd give you fair warning.


	27. Dadrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could've _sworn_ that I'd posted that last chapter already last night. Until I got to it and realized that I hadn't.  
So now you lucky ducks get two chapters right in a row. Yay!
> 
> Time skips: 6 years. Adrien and Marinette aged 22.

Adrien sniffed.

Marinette was next to him, and he knew that she was trying  _ very  _ hard not to roll her eyes while consolingly rubbing his back. “Are you done yet?”

He turned to her, tears welling up in his eyes again. “Marinette! They’re  _ dead! _ Plagg and Tikki are  _ dead!” _

She nodded. “Yes. I know. I was with you this morning when neither of them would move and were cold when we picked them up.”

“I can’t believe they’re  _ gone, _ ” he wailed. 

Apparently, Marinette was tired of this. “But they  _ are. _ You did the research with me. You know that hamsters are only supposed to live three years, but they lasted twice that.”

“I’ll never be the same again. They were like my children…”

Marinette sighed. “I understand that too. At least there’s still Wayzz, Trixx, Pollen, Duusu, Nooroo, Longg, Sass, Mullo, Xuppu, Fluff, and Kaalki. Since we’ve had this little funeral for Plagg and Tikki, maybe we should go back to taking care of them.”

Adrien sniffed again, trying to wipe the snot and tears away with his shirt sleeve. “You’re right. Their parents are gone. They need love and support right now.”

“There certainly is plenty of them,” she said. “And to think we just thought Tikki was getting fat from too many cookies…”

Adrien turned to Marinette, hands clasped in front of him, showing her that he was ready to move on. Well, except for the snot on the sleeve of his long sleeved black shirt, but that was a detail he was choosing to ignore right now. “I will show them even more love and care than before. I will treat them like my actual children I hope to have someday.”

Marinette laughed. “Okay,  _ Dadrien.” _

“Of course, children need a mother,” he said. “So would you be willing to nurture them, become more present in their lives, and be their Mominette?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is that a marriage proposal, M Agreste?”

“Uh-” Adrien hadn’t planned on that. Sure, he had been considering ways to ask her for a while now, but he wouldn’t have done it spur-of-the-moment like  _ this. _ “Well, I mean… if you say yes it is?”

Marinette smiled. “Then we better decide the date, location, and which last name we want to keep.”

Adrien grinned back. He’d have to thank Wayzz, Trixx, Pollen, Duusu, Nooroo, Longg, Sass, Mullo, Xuppu, Fluff, and Kaalki for helping him figure out how he’d propose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw Dadrien and Mominette on the notes of a fanfic I read… recently. Don’t ask me which one. But that’s what inspired Marinette’s name here.  
Okay. On second thought, maybe I’ll just try to knock out the next… four chapters between today and tomorrow. At least then, I wouldn’t have to worry about possibly working on three fics at once.  
And then I realize that I’ll probably be doing that anyways, because I have absolutely no attention span. _Sigh._


	28. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrienette wedding. It's based mostly upon the weddings I've been to, with some influence of what I've seen in movies, so I apologize if the image doesn't match up with ones you've thought of/ been around.

Adrien could hardly stand still. He  _ wanted  _ to be cool, calm and collected, but it  _ was _ one of the most important days of his life. How could he do that?

Especially when he had to just  _ stand  _ there.

Nino had told him to "just  _ chill, _ man" probably about a thousand already. Easy enough for  _ him  _ to say. He wasn't getting married today.

So, for now, they just stood and waited. Adrien felt more nervous by the second. Now he understood what Marinette felt like while catastrophizing as he could only imagine how everything could go wrong.

Then she appeared. Adrien let out a breath of relief that he didn't know he'd been holding.

She had refused to let him see the dress she had spent the months of their engagement designing and creating.

It was pure white, just a sleek design that hugged her figure above her waist before spreading out to a still sleek and smooth, touching the floor and trailing behind her. The veil completely covered her face, so Adrien had to live in suspense just a bit longer about how her hair and makeup were done.

Adrien couldn't focus on what the officiant was saying, until he got to- "Do you, Adrien Agreste, take her to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

That snapped him out of his daze. Wait. Weren't they supposed to do vows first? Or did that come later? Maybe he should just go along with it. "I- I do."

The officiant turned to Marinette. "Do you take him to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"Of  _ course! _ " she practically squealed.

Wait. That was the wrong voice. This was wrong. That wasn't Marinette, that was-

Chloe yanked up the veil, revealing her puckering lips with that awful-colored lipstick. "Now kiss!"

Adrien instantly recoiled. "No! It's supposed to be Marinette!"

"You said you would marry me, Adrien." Chloe pouted.. "Why won't you kiss me?"

She leaned forward again, and despite leaning backwards, their lips were about to touch when he protested-

"NO!"

Adrien shot up his bed in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. It took him a minute to calm down and realize that it hadn't been real. It was just a dream.

He flopped back down into bed, rubbing his hand over his face in relief.

Marrying Chloe. What a  _ nightmare _ .

* * *

Somehow that nightmare made Adrien infinitely more nervous than he anticipated he would be for the wedding day.

He felt like squirming out of his skin. If he could  _ do _ that, that is.

Logically, he knew that it would be  _ Marinette _ . Not Chloe. As if she could even pull of that prank. They would actually say their vows. The officiant would be obligated to say their names, anyhow. No room would be left for confusion.

It was a  _ little _ better once he saw Chloe- who they had invited as a guest a deemed them worthy to bestow her presence with- took a seat.

But it wasn’t until Marinette appeared in a different dress than the nightmare- layered skirt, pink stitching of Ladybugs covering the whole thing- and with a lace veil he could see her face through that he was truly at ease.

Well- his breath  _ did _ catch at the sight of her, but that was for an entirely different reason.

* * *

After the ceremony, they got into the car and headed to the luncheon.

Adrien wilted. “Gosh, I can’t wait for this day to be over, so that we’re just  _ married _ already. I’m too tired for all of this.”

Marinette leaned closer. “Even for after the reception?”

His face flushed. “Not- I mean- I- ugh!” He put his head in his hands. “I was just trying to say that I had a hard time sleeping last night because of a nightmare.”

She frowned. “What was it?”

“It was the wedding, but-” he gave her a nervous glance. “Chloe somehow replaced you? And then she tried to kiss me, and that’s when I woke up. It was horrifying.”

Marinette internally shuddered. “That reminds me of a nightmare I had once.”

Adrien looked up. “You had a nightmare about marrying Chloe.”

“No, but that might’ve been worse. It was-” she hesitated. “You know how for Sandboy, our nightmares were brought to life? My nightmare as Marinette was... _ you.” _

He raised an eyebrow. “What was so terrifying about me, milady?”

Marinette cringed internally, hardly believing she was going to tell him "Uh… you were following me, saying how you were going to marry Chloe and have a hamster named Marinette. And then the way you moved and said everything was like a  _ zombie _ . It was probably the creepiest thing I've ever seen."

Adrie looked appalled. "My was bad, but at least it wasn't  _ creepy _ . I just was locked in my room and thought that Plagg got turned into a sock."

Marinette laughed. "Right. He snuck out, didn't he? Did I ever tell you that afterwards, when Tikki, him and I went to go see Master Fu, Tikki and I both tried to take the fault, and then he agreed that it  _ was _ ours and not his?"

Adrien burst out laughing. "That sounds  _ just _ like good ol' Plagg. Thanks for lightening the mood."

She smirked. Of course! I don't want your beautiful face being tired and upset in our wedding photos of the luncheon and reception."

He put a hand over his heart and gasped in fake shock. "You've betrayed me!"

"Mwahaha!" Marinette raised her hands in imitation of an evil villain. "You now know my ulterior motives! I want you to create positive memories of and remember our wedding in a fond light!"

She was pretty sure she heard the Gorilka-who insisted on being their chauffeur- sigh up front.

Adrien swooned, with the back of his hand held to his forehead. "What a  _ nightmare!" _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was… entirely too much fun to write.  
DISCLAIMER:I have no clue how to describe clothing, and only a vague idea of what the dresses were supposed to look like. Though literally right after finishing the chapter, I went into a craft store wondered if I should have.  
3 chapters left. We'll see if I can complete this before it is officially February.


	29. Helping hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small time jump? A few months, I’m thinking.

Adrien stepped back, looking at the house in satisfaction. It was  _ finally _ done.

All the houses were built.

He smiled and looked over at the man standing next to him.

"Uh…  _ eso es bien?"  _ Adrien ventured with the limited Spanish he had picked up over the past week, desperately hoping he got the words right.

The man, Guillermo, nodded enthusiastically. "Si, si, si! Es  _ perfecto!" _ He was smiling broadly. “Muchas gracias, Adrien!”

Adrien nodded. “De nada.”

Suddenly, Marinette and Guillermo’s wife, Xitlali, came out from inside, laughing at something that had been said. Xitlali asked Marinette, “¿Tú y tu esposo necesitan cenar?”

Marinette shook her head. “No, gracias. Somos bien.”

Marinette walked over to Adrien. “Since everything is finished, are you ready to go?”

He nodded.

Surprisingly, Marinette had picked up the language better than him. Not that Adrien doubted his wife- but he had more experience learning languages, and it was supposed to get easier the more you knew, right?

At any rate, she was the one who spoke for them. “Buenas noches! Fue un placer conocerte!”

The couple waved back, and Xitlali responded. “Igualmente! Buenas noches, Marinette y Adrien!”

As they started walking back to their nearby motel, Adrien pulled his wife to his chest, holding her by her shoulders. “That was fun, but I’m kind of glad that it’s over.”

“Oh?” Marinette asked. “Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Adrien quickly corrected. “I’ve enjoyed the chance to be helping people out more again, in a different way than I did as Chat Noir. But helping people build homes wasn’t exactly what I expected when you said that you got us a week-long all-expenses-paid vacation to Puerto Rico.”

She stopped walking, turning around to face him. “Did I ever tell you what one of the reasons I fell for you was?”

Adrien considered it. “You’ve told me some, but I’m no mind reader. What?”

Marinette smiled up at him. “It was how kind you were. Always willing to lend a helping hand, even though you had plenty of reason to be inconsiderate because of your own life.”

“Oh, really?”

She nodded. “So I apologize for wanting to see one of the things I love about you.”

“Hmm… let me think about it.” Adrien leaned down to kiss his wife. “You’re forgiven.”

She laughed. “And there’s still a whole day left before we have to leave. So you still  _ do _ get your vacation.”

She reached up on her toes to peck him on the lips.

He laughed. “I think I can handle that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <strike>Two more, two more, two more.</strike>  
If you couldn’t guess, this chapter leads into the next one: Tropical Island.


	30. Tropical Island

The sunset was gorgeous.

Adrien and Marinette were cuddling on the beach, watching the beautiful orange sky above the reflecting water.

Adrien sighed. “I could do this every day.”

“But you can’t,” Marinette told him. “We have to go back tomorrow, remember?”

He pouted. “Not if we moved here.”

Marinette shifted in his grip so that she could face him. “Would you seriously want that, M Agreste?”

Adrien shrugged. “I once considered just revealing my identity to you and moving away to a tropical island and having a pet hamster.”

“When was this?” she asked.

“Um… nine years ago, I think. I was fourteen at the time.”

“Well,” Marinette said, pulling out her fingers to count on. “Your identity was revealed  _ eight _ years ago, we’re on a tropical island  _ now, _ and all thirteen of our hamsters have lived out their short life sometime within the past seven years.”

Adrien leaned back, his face falling. “I miss them. They were a bit of a handful, but plenty of fun.”

She resumed her original position. “Me too. Sometimes I want another, but it wouldn’t be the same.”

“Yeah. They were like our kids.”   
He felt Marinette tense. “What if we had our  _ own _ children?”

Adrien jolted. “Are you saying you want to start a family? Already? I mean, I want to, too, but, we’ve only been married a few months-”

“Wait!” She held up her hands to stop him. “I  _ am _ ready to start a family, but what I’m  _ really _ trying to say is… we’ve already started one.”

_ We’ve already- _

He blinked.

_ -started one. _

They had already started a family…

Adrien’s eyes widened as he turned to look at his wife. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yes.”

He started to rake his hands through his hair. “But we’ve been working on building those houses the past few days! What if something had happened?”

“Adrien, honey.” Marinette took his shoulders and made him look her in the eye. “I know, and I made sure to take it easy, doing light tasks with plenty of breaks. I only found out for sure myself the day before we left, and I knew you would react like this. But I’m fine, don’t worry.”

Adrien nodded slowly. Then finally, the realization hit him. They were going to have a  _ baby. _ A  _ family. _

He grinned, pulling her into a hug. “Best. Vacation.  _ Ever.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with this chapter. But I wanted to introduce their family in the next (and last- YAY!) chapter, so I figured this would be nice.


	31. Kitty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TADA!  
The Grand Finale. Finally. And it will also be the only one told 100% through Marinette’s POV. Because I felt like it.

Sometimes Marinette didn’t know who was more of a handful. The six-year-old identical twins, Louis and Hugo, or three-year-old Emma.

Something about the screaming downstairs and shout of “DIE BY THE POWER OF CROISSANTS!” told her it was the latter.

Marinette and Adrien were at her parent’s house, trying to get some paperwork done in peace and quiet while Tom and Sabine watched the kids downstairs. But with the Agreste children being… well,  _ them, _ that just wasn’t happening.

Marinette groaned, placing her head in her hands. “Go deal with your daughter.”

Adrien gave her a dirty look. “She’s just as much  _ your  _ daughter.”

“Not when she’s like this. She gets her  _ dramatic  _ side from her dear papa.” She stuck her tongue out at her husband.

Adrien returned the gesture, but did go to deal with  _ sweet little Emma. _

Within a minute, the sounds were muted to a level that Marinette could think for what she thought  _ must’ve  _ been the first time since the twins were born.

Until her ringtone interrupted it. She sighed and didn’t bother to even look who it was before answering.

“Marinette Agreste speaking.” If it was one of her friends, they would understand.

“Marinette.” That voice. It sounded familiar. “It’s me, Master Fu.”

_ That  _ got her to sit up in her seat. “Master Fu? I’m surprised you’re still alive- not that it’s bad, but… it’s been fifteen years since I’ve seen you. What’s going on?”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are needed again.”

Adrien chose that exact moment to walk in. “I finally convinced Emma that it would be better to eat the croissants than hurtle them at her brothers, but then  _ they _ wanted some, too, and-” He looked up and saw that she was on the phone and her expression. “What’s going on?”

“Wait a second, Master Fu. Adrien just got here, let me put it on speaker phone.” Marinette pulled it off her ear so that they could both here.

“Uhh…” Adrien hesitated. “Hey, Master Fu. What’s up?”

“Some evil spirits popped up in China, and need to be contained by Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

The couple shared a questioning glance.

“We’ll do it,” Marinette said resolutely. “Where do we need to meet you? The temple?”

“As if I could get cell reception from  _ there, _ ” Master Fu laughed. “I’m down at the park next to your parent’s bakery. I’ve also brought the horse miraculous so that you can get there quickly.”

“Alright. Meet you there.”

They hung up and went downstairs. “Mom? Dad?”

Sabine looked up at her daughter. “What is it, honey?”

“Do you think you could watch the kids for a few hours to… indefinitely?”

She frowned. “What if we need their clothes and such?”

“Ooh!” Emma bounced from sitting to standing on her chair (despite knowing very well she wasn’t supposed to), abandoning her croissant for the moment. “I know the passcode to the apartment! It’s-”

“And  _ that’s _ how,” Adrien finished. “Is that alright?”

Sabine nodded, and they left quickly, easily finding Master Fu in the park. He gave them their miraculouses, and they didn’t wait a moment to put them on.

“Now,” Master Fu said. “The sooner you leave, the better.”

“What?” Plagg complained. “No time for cheese?”

“ _ Plagg,” _ Tikki chided.

Marinette grinned. That was  _ exactly _ how she remembered them. But Master Fu was right.

“Tikki, spots on!”

“Plagg, claws out!”

Ladybug turned and-  _ Wow. _ Chat Noir. She smiled and went on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss.

When he gave her a questioning look, she shrugged. “What? It’s been half my lifetime since I’ve kissed the  _ paw _ sitively a _ meow _ zing Chat Noir.”

Chat chuckled at that. “I’ve missed you, milady.”

She returned a smile. “I’ve missed you too, kitty.”

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it. I hope you liked it.  
It was fun, and if you want, look out for my next fic that I’m starting tomorrow: Love is (Unfortunately) Blind.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want, check out my other stories.


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